lMjf\jlL^.^\m\CZt    M   MM 


Jr\^■^  (}'>'^'\    u;uvi; 


LIBRA.RV 

OK   TH1-: 

University  of  California. 

Accession  84195       ^'''''^'"*  A 

^ ^ — /!33  5" 


Xf 


>- 


TO 


Nazareth  Or  Tarsus? 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 

Not  On  Calvary,"  "  The  First  Millennial  Faith,"  Etc. 


(Copyright  190: 


06iivK  PoBusHiNG  Company.) 


JCALIFO^ 

New  York: 

J.  S.  OGILVIE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

57  Rose  Street. 


APOLOGY. 

So  LONG  as  orthodoxy  believes  that  its  wisest 
course  is  to  ignore  the  results  of  the  higher  criti- 
cism, he  who  would  appeal  to  the  occupants  of  the 
pews — nay  more,  desires  to  persuade  that  "man 
in  the  street"  whose  relation  to  the  divine  testa- 
mentary gifts  is  that  of  residuary  legatee  to  the 
man  in  the  pew — must  follow  the  example  of  the 
pulpit,  and  allow  himself  no  participation  in  the 
fruits  of  critical  scholarship. 


84195 


Nazareth  or  Tarsus? 


I. 

An  open  volume. 

Of  The  Man  who  stands  before  it  courtesy  per- 
mits the  phrase  "in  the  prime  of  life." 

The  Book,  like  Shakespeare,  "is  more  praised 
than  read" — thoughtfully. 

The  Man  is  strangely  alone. 

He  was  most  unfairly  handicapped  in  that 
midnight  footrace;  for  his  competitor  was  en- 
cumbered with  but  a  single  garment,  and  that 
of  the  lightest  material. 

The  starting  post  was  the  bedside  of  an  un- 
faithful wife. 

Then  he  went  out  into  the  still,  clear  night, 
thanking  God  that  the  reflected  shame  was  his 
alone  to  bear.  Thankful  that  to  no  child-life 
would  come  the  overshadowing  ignominy  of  a 
mother's  sin. 

Alone;  without  even  the  memory  of  mother, 
sister,  brother,  child. 

84195 


13  yAZAliETH    OR    TARHUH? 

Not  but  that  he  had  experienced  a  mother's 
love, — ou  its  reverse  side.  For  the  women — 
saintly  women,  if  you  will  take  their  funeral  ser- 
mons at  their  face  value — whom  he  was  obliged 
to  call  by  that  blessed  name,  had  taught  him 
that  the  maternal  instinct  in  a  woman  is  no  ho- 
lier, though  wiser,  than  if  it  were  endued  with 
hoofs  and  horns  to  defend  its  own  young,  or  to 
secure  for  its  own  offspring  daintier  pastures 
and  sweeter  waters. 

There  are  oases  in  the  desert ; — but  where  the 
waters  of  Marah  have  fructified.  Blessed  are 
they  who  may  abide  under  the  beneficent  shade 
that  they  foster. 

This  is  not  a  story  we  are  telling  you.  Come 
with  us,  as  step  by  step  we  walk  by  the  side  of 
this  man,  learning  his  strength  and  weaknesses; 
and  so,  knowing  his  limitations,  we  may  detect 
.any  mistake  in  his  reasoning,  any  error  in  his 
conclusions. 

But  we  cannot  rightly  judge  whether  we 
should  allow  him  to  influence  our  opinions  till 
we  measure  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose:  and 
equally  important  it  is  to  judge  whether  the  iso- 
lating conditions  of  his  life  have  made  liim  hard 
and  bitter  or  have  fostered  a  calm,  self-poised, 
judicial  temperament. 

Yet  we  may  be  sure  of  this;  that  if  he  is  not 


'NAZARETH    OR    TIRHVB?  13 

hard  and  uncharitable  he  will  possess  a  tender- 
ness, morbidlj^  sensitive  throngh  retrospect  of 
his  own  suffering,  which  will  make  him  vulner- 
able to  the  attacks  of  those  who  could  not  vic- 
timize him  through  anj^  low  or  selfish  appeal. 

Once  a  gang  of  blackmailers  had  found  the 
way  to  move  his  pity,  knowing  that  he  would  be 
fearless  and  unguarded  if  his  sympathies  were 
aroused  and  his  confidence  won.  When  their 
masks  were  thrown  off  and  he  saw  that  they  had 
him  in  their  power — through  the  apj)earance  of 
evil  motive  which  they  had  skilfully  woven  about 
him — with  no  chance  of  escape,  he  Avould  have 
drawn  them  into  his  power,  by  a  pretended  de- 
sire for  a  conference,  and  would  have  taken  their 
lives  as  calmly  as  he  would  have  destroyed  any 
other  kind  of  vermin.  And  to  the  spiritual  com- 
forter who  would  have  visited  him  in  his  conse- 
quent confinement,  with  an  appeal  for  contrition 
and  repentance,  he  would  have  answered  that  he 
could  not  ask  God's  forgiveness  for  what  he 
would  do  again  under  the  same  circumstances; 
that  it  was  the  only  gentlemanly  way  out  of  his 
dilemma ;  and  if  it  was  the  choice  of  going  to  hell 
a  gentleman  or  to  heaven  a  poltroon  and  with  a 
cruel  wrong  unavenged,  then  he  must  ask  to  be 
excused  from  taking  the  heavenly  road ;  and  that 
he  could  not  reconcile  God's  pity  and  justice  with 
any  regret  on  God's  part  that  any  of  this  most 


14  NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS? 

merciless  class  of  beings  should  be  removed  be- 
yond any  possibility  of  further  prosecuting  their 
brutal  calling. 

Perhaps  there  may  have  been  some  of  the  old 
heathen  Norse  blood  in  his  veins;  and  surely  he 
was  better  fitted  for  Valhalla  than  for  Heaven. 

But  between  his  overpowering  desire  for  a  re- 
venge that  seemed  almost  sacred — ^because  per- 
haps morbidly  exaggerating  the  crime  of  work- 
ing a  great  injury  through  an  appeal  to  pity — 
there  came  the  thought  of  her,  "half  child,  half 
woman,"  who  looked  to  him  for  that  love  and 
care  and  provision  Avhich  he  had  pledged  to  her, 
in  her  loving  dependence  on  him.  He  could  not 
leave  her  to  struggle  alone  and  unloved.  So  his 
enemies'  lives  were  spared.  How  close  they 
came  to  death  they  never  knew ;  while  he  calmly 
bowed  to  the  shame  and  loss  which  the  male- 
factors fastened  on  him. 

Too  late  he  had  met  that  warning  of  a  most  ac- 
complished student  of  human  nature : 

"Kindnesses  which  can  be  reciprocated  foster 
friendship;  kindnesses  beyond  the  power  of  re- 
payment engender  hatred." 

Later,  when  he  had  become  as  conversant  with 
his  Bible  as  with  Tacitus  he  never  ceased  to 
wonder  that  divine  wisdom  liad  not  conveyed 
this  warning;  had  loft  it  to  tlio  lion  then  pliil(!«- 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  15 

opher  alone  to  place  this  beacon  light,  searching 
the  soul  as  merely  human  light  has  seldom  done. 
A  light  which — if  it  had  lighted  the  Man's  path 
in  early  life — would  have  saved  him  from  the 
pitfalls  that  ingratitute  had  dug,  and  in  which 
he  had  encountered  his  keenest  sorrows. 


16  NAZARETU   OR   TARSUSf 


II. 


Six  months  ago  he  stood  as  he  stands  to-day, 
reverently  closing  the  volume  before  him. 

To-day  his  face  is  firm  and  hard.  A  warrior's 
helmet  would  be  a  fit  setting.  Then  it  was  se- 
rene and  benignant;  a  calm  restfulness  pos- 
sessed it. 

It  matters  not  how  the  impulse  came :  it  may 
have  been  aroused  by  that  eloquent  and  persua- 
sive preacher,  Death :  it  may  have  been  through 
retrospect  of  the  treachery  and  ingratitude  of 
those  whom  he  had  loved  and  trusted ;  there  came 
into  his  heart  the  longing  to  learn  if  there  was 
a  stable  foundation  for  the  hope  of  another  ex- 
istence; where  to  exultant,  eternal  youth  there 
was  presented  an  ever  developing  knowledge: 
where  the  beautiful  in  myriad  forms  would  ap- 
peal to  such  sublime  virility  that  satiety  would 
never  stay  the  flow  of  endless  enjoyment. 

It  was  his  good  fortune  to  have  the  friendship 
of  one  of  those  rare  characters,  whose  evenly 
balanced  intellects  and  generous  impulses  make 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSVSf  lY 

them  the  confidants  and  helpers  of  any  who  are 
in  doubt  or  trouble. 

But,  crossing  the  threshold  of  that  friend's  li- 
brary, he  saw  that  the  simple  breakfast  was  un- 
tasted  and  that  some  grave  problem  oppressed 
him. 

'You  are  busy — hard  at  work — I  will  come 
again.' 

'No,'  was  the  answer;  'stay,  I  need  you.  You 
of  all  men  in  the  world  I  am  most  gratified  to 
see.  Here,'  and  he  almost  thrust  into  his  visit- 
or's hand  the  photograph  he  had  been  studying. 
Then,  turning  to  some  papers,  he  seemed  to  re- 
gard them  carefully  that  he  might  in  no  way  dis- 
turb his  visitor's  analysis  of  the  "counterfeit  pre- 
sentment." 

At  length  the  Man  laid  down  the  picture. 
'Well,  it  ought  not  to  be  hard  to  trap  him  if 
he  is  within  reach.  He  is  vain,  and  that  will 
make  it  easier ;  he  is  brutal,  and  would  be  merci- 
less; it  will  require  no  fine  work;  it  will  be 
through  his  lower  nature  that  you  will  trap  him.' 

'You  are  right  in  your  reading  of  his  face,' 
the  host  replied. 

'It  is  the  old  story.  A  foolish  girl  was  carry- 
ing on  a  romantic  correspondence  with  a  sup- 
posed attach^  of  a  foreign  embassy.  He  had  im- 
pressed on  her  that  she  must  destroy  his  letters, 
and  he  assured  her  that  he  destroyed  hers. 


18  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f 

'She  obeyed;  so  we  have  no  evidence  against 
him.  Her  letters  were  carefully  preserved,  and 
when  he  had  secured  a  sufficient  number  he  be- 
gan to  ask  her  for  loans.  After  he  had  obtained 
all  that  she  could  give  he  threw  off  the  mask  and 
demanded  that  she  sell  her  jewelry,  that  she  ob- 
tain money  to  pay  her  bills  and  send  it  to  him, 
or  he  would  use  her  letters  to  injure  her. 

'All  of  these  demands  were  typewritten  and 
unsigned.    So  they  are  not  evidence. 

'At  last,  every  resource  exhausted,  confronted 
with  bills  she  had  obtained  money  to  pay,  half 
sick  from  fear  of  the  scoundrel,  she  confessed  all 
to  her  parents. 

'Last  night  they  came  to  me.  I  am  not  on  their 
visiting  list.  I  am  never  invited  to  their  func- 
tions. It  was  just  a  little  amusing  to  observe 
the  embarrassment  they  labored  under  as  they 
appealed  to  one  whom  they  regarded  as  their  so- 
cial inferior  for  aid  in  a  crisis  that  might  seri- 
ously affect  their  daughter's  social  prospects. 
Any  public  prosecution  they  naturally  dreaded. 
Indeed,  there  was  no  evidence  to  support  it.  Thoy 
only  desired  to  recover  the  compromising  let- 
ters.' 

'There  is  only  one  way  to  recover  those  let- 
ters,' said  the  Man. 

'I  know  it,'  was  the  answer,  and  the  host's 
face  showed  the  keen  chagrin  of  one  who  knows 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  19 

the  methods  he  should  employ,  yet  is  powerless 
to  command  them. 

'The  Woman?'  Intently  the  two  men  looked 
into  each  other's  faces  as  the  visitor  asked  this 
simple  question.  He,  calm  and  impassive;  the 
face  of  the  other  appealing  mutely  for  help. 
Presently  the  visitor's  face  relaxed  into  a  faint 
smile,  and  a  slight  gesture  told  of  his  ability  to 
help. 

'You  have  relieved  me  from  what  I  was  re- 
garding as  an  almost  hopeless  position.  For  the 
parents  I  cared  nothing.  The  mental  sufferings 
of  the  girl  had  enlisted  my  interest,  yet  till  you 
offered  to  help  me  I  was  humiliated  by  my  power- 
lessness.  But  tell  me — this  woman,  do  you  hold 
her  by  fear  or  through  affection?' 

'Neither;  through  gratitude.' 

Then  followed  a  short  conversation  that  would 
have  been  unintelligible  to  a  listener ;  words  ap- 
parently with  no  relation  to  each  other ;  half  sen- 
tences such  as  only  those  can  employ  who  know 
each  other's  hearts,  and  each  so  intent  that  words 
are  almost  needless,  with  each  face  fully  in  the 
light  of  the  other's  eyes.  So  the  two  men  ar- 
ranged the  details  for  the  rescue  of  the  girl  from 
the  power  of  her  oppressor. 

As  the  visitor  rose  to  leave  he  said:  'I  value 
this  woman's  loyalty  too  highly  to  permit  a  need- 
less risk.    Disagreeable  as  is  the  work,  I  must 


20  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

take  "close  shadow."  I  would  entrust  no  one  else 
with  her  protection.  Give  me  Hart  for  "outside."  ' 
And  at  whatever  sacrifice  on  his  part  the  lojal 
woman  would  have  been  protected  in  her  peril- 
ous mission. 

His  hand  was  almost  on  the  door  when  his 
host  recalled  him. 

'How  can  I  apologize  for  my  thoughtlessness? 
You  have  given  me  all  that  I  could  have  asked; 
yet  to  you  I  have  not  given  one  thought.  Tell 
me  what  service  I  can  render  to  you.' 

'One  can  safely  give  advice  to  a  hungry  man/ 
and  the  visitor  laughingly  called  attention  to  the 
untasted  breakfast;  'but  to  ask  advice  from  an 
unbreakfasted  man  is  a  temerity  that  I  trust  I 
have  the  good  sense  not  to  be  guilty  of.' 

'If  you  were  not  so  modest  that  you  are  blind 
to  the  intense  relief  you  have  brought  to  me  you 
would  know  that  my  heart  is  so  light  that  I 
could  Avork  for  hours  on  the  strength  of  that  re- 
lief;  but' — and  here  he  touched  the  bell — 'I  will 
order  a  warm  breakfast  for  two,  and  while  it  is 
preparing  let  me  share  any  interest  or  any  anxi- 
ety that  you  entertain.  Now  settle  yourself  in 
this  easy-chair  and  let  me  have  the  pleasure  of 
making  myself  just  a  little  less  your  debtor.' 

The  lightheartedness  and  cordiality  were  so 
evident  that  they  made  it  easy  for  tlie  Man  to 


IfAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f  21 

reveal  that  longing  which,  next  to  Love,  is  hard- 
est for  one  soul  to  unbosom  to  another. 

Then  the  host  answered:  'You  esteem  me,  I 
fear,  more  highly  than  I  deserve  when  jou  say  I 
am  the  one  whose  comprehensive,  unbiased  study 
has  made  me,  in  your  view,  the  safest  counsellor 
on  a  theme  the  importance  of  which  I  concede 
unreservedly.  But  its  truths  are  of  such  a  na- 
ture that  each  student  of  them  must  regard  their 
evidences  largely  through  the  media  of  his  own 
temperament.  So  I  can  only  offer  to  you  that 
which  I  feel  will  appeal  most  effectively  to  you.' 

He  arose,  and,  taking  from  his  desk  a  little 
book,  he  said:  'Here  is  a  gift  from  a  dear  old 
lady  who  feels  that  she  is  responsible  for  my  spir- 
itual welfare.  To  tempt  me  to  read  it  she  writes 
to  me  that  it  is  the  Index  Expurgatorius  of 
orthodox  religious  bookstores.  Its  brevity  at- 
tracted me  more.  That  the  author  is  in  earnest 
is  evident.  That  he  has  struggled  up — 
as  he  believes — to  a  light  that  he  wishes  to  im- 
part to  others  is  equally  clear.  He  is  too  rev- 
erent to  destroy  where  he  does  not  try  to  recon- 
struct on  lines  that  he  believes  to  be  true  and 
natural.  I  give  it  to  you,  this  little  "Not  on  Cal- 
vary," knowing  that  you  will  weigh  it  care- 
fully, confident  that  you  will  detect  any  false 
reasoning,  if  such  it  contains.' 


22  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

Not  many  days  after  this  consultation  there 
came  to  tlie  home  of  the  foolish  virgin  a  woman 
whose  cultivation  and  refinement  were  evident. 
Her  demand  for  an  immediate  interview  she 
apologized  for,  'because  moments  may  be  pre- 
cious. Examine  this  package,'  she  said.  'If  any 
letters  are  lacking  it  is  best  that  I  should  receive 
these  again  and  restore  them  at  once,  that  I 
may  recover  all.' 

Presently  the  girl's  face  told  her  without 
words,  by  the  look  of  relief  that  suffused  it,  that 
the  number  was  evidently  complete. 

'Believe  me,  dear  child,  mj  relief  that  my 
work  is  ended  is  little  less  than  your  joy  that 
you  have  escaped  from  his  power.' 

But  now  the  visitor  saw  a  look  of  mingled  con- 
tempt and  fear  on  the  mother's  face.  'My  dear 
madam,  I  understand  you  perfectly,  since  you 
take  no  pains  to  conceal  your  thoughts.  Our 
low  estimate  of  others  is  largelj^  a  reflex  of  our 
own  characters — unless  we  have  been  terribly 
unfortunate  in  our  experiences.  No.  You  have 
not  exchanged  one  danger  for  a  new  one.  Your 
secret  is  safe  with  me,  for  the  sake  of  the  man 
for  whom  I  have  made  this  sacrifice — greater 
and  more  repugnant  than  you  can  understand. 
But' — and  here  she  held  out  her  hand  to  the 
girl — 'I  believe  that  you  trust  me.' 


Nazareth  or  tarsus?  23 

'Indeed  I  do,  and  I  shall  never  forget  your 
kindness.  Come  again  and  see  me;  I  want  you 
to  be  my  friend.' 

'Thank  you,  dear  child.  And  I  am  sure  that 
when  a  true  and  loyal  love  comes  to  you  you  will 
value  it  all  the  more  for  the  counterfeit  that  you 
have  received.'  Then,  holding  her  hand,  she  im- 
pressed the  willing  girl  into  such  sincere  cour- 
tesy in  leave-taking  that  the  mother  was  silently 
but  emphatically  rebuked. 


24  in AZ ARETE   OR   TARSUS f 


III. 


Self-reliant^  shrinking  from  taking  others 
into  his  confidence — even  when  it  was  a  matter 
of  small  moment — it  was  only  a  sense  of  duty 
which  impelled  the  Man  to  give  publicity  to  his 
new  convictions. 

Perhaps  he  was  not  fortunate  in  his  choice  of 
the  clergyman  through  whom  he  desired  to  make 
a  public  avowal  of  his  newly  found  faith. 

Simply  and  unreservedly  as  a  little  child  he 
told  the  story  of  his  weariness  with  the  humiliat- 
ing and  contemptible  conditions  of  living;  of  his 
hope  that  there  was  irrefragable  proof — at  least 
presumptive  evidence  of  the  validity  of  the  claim 
of  the  ]\Ian  of  Galilee  that  he  came  with  power  to 
reveal  a  future  life  of  happiness;  telling,  too,  of 
his  longing  for  fitness  for  such  an  exalted  and 
restful  existence. 

Kindly,  tactfully,  the  clergyman  drew  from 
him  the  history  of  the  methods  of  reasoning  nud 
the  influences  that  had  led  him  to  recognize  the 
truth  of  the  beneficent  mission  of  the  life  begun 
in  Bethlehem. 


NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS?  25 

'Let  me  see  the  little  book  that  has  been  the 
means  of  convincing  you  that  there  is  a  future 
worth  the  attaining  to  and  which  has  guided  you 
into  the  knowledge  of  the  way  that  leads  to  that 
life.' 

Prepossessed  in  its  favor,  the  clergyman  re- 
ceived the  book.  But  his  face  became  ominously 
clouded  as  he  glanced  over  its  pages.  Slowly 
closing  the  book,  he  handed  it  back  to  his  visitor. 
For  a  moment  he  sat  in  silence.  Then,  as  if  im- 
pelled to  the  performance  of  a  painful  duty,  he 
said: 

'My  friend,  saddest  of  all  error  is  that  which 
misleads  through  the  glamour  of  sincerity.  Such 
I  believe  is  the  ignis  fatiius  that  you  have  fol- 
lowed. False  light  I  believe  it  to  be,  although 
it  has  led  you  to  a  peaceful  faith.  But  that 
faith  is  wrongly  founded.  Covertly,  yet  none 
the  less  intently,  this  little  book  attacks  the 
teachings  of  Paul  the  Apostle.  Reverently  its 
author  regards  the  mission  of  our  Lord.  But  I 
appeal  to  your  good^  sense — rather  let  me  say  to 
that  skill  in  the  analysis  of  evidence  with  which 
you  are  so  justly  credited. 

'On  the  one  hand,  St.  Paul  supernaturally  con- 
verted by  a  revelation  of  the  risen  and  reigning 
Christ — and  divinely  called  to  be  an  apostle  of 
Christianity,  especially  commissioned  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  Gentile  world.    Under  divine 


26  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf 

inspiration  lie  wrote  the  epistles  "svliich  bear  his 
name.  The  doctrines  set  forth  in  these  writings 
have  stood  the  test  of  the  most  rigid  investiga- 
tion and  were  the  inspiration  of  those  great  ref- 
ormations which  eliminated  many  of  the  errors 
which  had  crept  into  the  church. 

'Surely  if  St.  Paul's  doctrines  had  been  con- 
ceived in  error — founded  on  falsities — the 
searching  intellects  of  those  great  reformers 
would  have  discovered  the  fallacies  of  his  prop- 
ositions. 

'Is  it  within  the  bounds  of  probability,  I  might 
almost  say  of  possibility,  that  errors — so  rad- 
ical and  so  profound  as  this  little  book  implies 
are  incorporated  by  the  canon  of  St.  Paul  in  the 
universal  Christian  faith — could  have  escaped 
the  critical  acumen  of  those  intellectual  giants, 
Calvin,  Luther,  and  the  Westminster  divines? 

'On  the  other  hand,  we  have  opposed  to  them 
an  obscure  writer,  admitting  himself  to  be  un- 
skilled in  theology,  inveighing  against  the  doc- 
trines that  have  stood  the  test  of  nearly  two 
thousand  years;  doctrines  that  have  survived 
through  all  those  centuries  the  attacks  of  athe- 
ists and  founders  of  schismatic  sects;  yet  stand- 
ing to-day  as  firmly  grounded  in  the  basic  faith 
of  Catholics  as  of  Protestants;  and  not  less  of 
the  Greek  church,  of  the  Armenian,  and  of  all 
other  Christian  communions. 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS?  37 

'Let  me  ask  you  to  apply  to  this  investigation 
that  law  of  probabilities  on  which,  I  presume, 
you  have  founded  your  success  in  your  profes- 
sion.' 

*I  acknowledge  the  force  of  your  argument ;  I 
admit  the  weight  that  is  due  to  the  consensus  of 
belief  throughout  the  Christian  world.  But  you 
are  not  so  wise  in  your  personal  appeal. 

'So  far  from  my  successes  being  based  on — as 
you  say — the  law  of  probabilities,  let  me  remind 
you  that  most  successful  men  do  not  run  with 
the  multitude  in  the  easy  grooves  of  probabilities. 
Parallel  with  them,  perhaps;  or  it  may  be  coun- 
ter to  them;  but  never  adown  them  is  a  great 
success  overtaken.  But  my  profession  has  taught 
me  to  hold  lightly, — that  I  may  drop  readily,  if 
faulty, — any  thread  of  investigation;  nay  more, 
to  be  ready  to  couple  with  it,  even  if  promising 
a,  success,  any  new  one  that  possesses  any  ap- 
pearance of  leading  to  the  truth.  So  I  ask  you 
to  tell  me  where  I  can  best  learn  of  the  teaching 
of  Paul  the  Apostle.  I  assure  you  that  I  will 
enter  on  the  study  unprejudiced  by  that  which 
I  have  previously  read.  In  my  daily  life  I  am 
constantly  impressed  with  the  fact  that  truth  is 
many  sided;  and  its  brightest  facets  may  be  un- 
recognized till  that  is  cleared  away  which  ob- 
scures them.  Unreservedly  I  yield  to  your  ar- 
guments ;  and  I  am  allowing  no  protests  from  my 


38  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

"superior  ignorance";  an  ignorance  which,  I 
assure  you,  I  will  overcome  if  you  will  teach  me 
how  to  do  so.' 

'Certainly — and  it  is  always  a  joy  to  me  to 
aid  anyone  who  is  willing  to  learn  the  true 
guide  to  such  knowledge ;'  and  as  the  clergyman 
spoke  he  handed  to  his  visitor  the  Book,  often  at 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
'Were  all  else  lost,  this  one  letter  would  have 
given  to  Christianity  that  which  has  enshrined 
St.  Paul  in  the  hearts  of  all  believers.  Then  turn 
back  to  St.  Luke's  story  of  his  great  Master's 
life,  a  life  that  was  so  full  of  privations ;  so  glori- 
fied by  his  devotion  to  his  mission.  Then  go  for- 
ward and  read  his  fervent  appeals  to  the  con- 
verts; his  devoted  love  to  his  children  in  Christ. 
You  cannot  fail  to  give  him  your  reverent  ad- 
miration.' 

'You  have  described  a  great  preacher,  but  you 
have  told  me  nothing  of  his  doctrines,'  was  the 
calm  reply.  'Will  you  please  outline  them,  that 
I  may  know  what  the  church  of  to-day  demands 
as  the  foundation  of  belief?' 

And  the  clergyman  answered:  'I  know  that 
your  analytical  mind  will  recognize  as  irrefrag- 
able this  chain  of  argument  by  which  St.  Paul 
maintains  his  doctrines: 

'First :  That  God  created  man  into  a  state  of 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSVSf  29 

innocence  and  gave  him  a  commandment,  which, 
if  broken,  brought  the  penalty  of  eternal  death. 

'Second:  That  man  broke  the  law  and  thus 
fell  into  a  state  of  guilt  which  exposed  him  to 
the  wrath  of  God  in  this  life  and  throughout 
eternity.  With  the  first  man  all  mankind  fell 
and  were  brought  under  the  same  condemnation. 

'Third:  The  sin  being  infinite,  an  infinite  sac- 
rifice must  be  offered  to  appease  the  Divine  jus- 
tice. 

'Fourth :  That  this  infinite  sacrifice  was  of- 
fered in  the  suffering  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  being  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity,  be- 
came man,  and  shed  his  blood  for  the  sin  of  man ; 
thus  satisfying  the  claims  of  Justice. 

'Yet,  better  than  answer  of  mine,  are  the 
words  of  the  blind  Milton,  who  was  compensated 
for  his  loss  of  vision  by  a  clearer  spiritual  in- 
sight : 

"i/frn^  losing  all, 
To  expiate  his  treason  hath  naught  left, 
But  to  destruction  sacred  and  devote 
He  icith  his  ivhole  posterity  must  die: 
Die  he  or  justice  must;  unless  for  him 
Some  other  able,  and  as  ivilUng,  jmy 
The  rigid  satisfaction:  death  for  death" 

And  their  inspiration  was  in  St.  Paul's  fearless, 


30  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

unqualified  insistence  on  the  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment through  the  blood  of  Christ.  Read  his 
epistles  and  you  will  learn  the  truth  of  the  mis- 
sion of  the  Christ.' 

The  enquirer  listened  respectfully,  yet  re- 
solved to  find  and  to  follow  the  truth ;  whether  it 
led  him  with  the  multitude  or  alone  into  the  wil- 
derness. 

Perhaps  there  was  a  degree  of  chagrin  at  his 
discomfiture  in  the  impulse  that  led  him — before 
he  entered  on  these  studies — to  read  again  the 
little  book;  but  this  time  side  by  side  with  the 
words  of  those  who  had  been  chosen  by  the  Life 
to  be  the  historians  of  His  acts,  the  recorders  of 
His  utterances. 

'Reverently  its  author  regards  the  mission  of 
our  Lord' — he  remembered  that  the  clergyman 
had  said  of  the  little  book.  And  as  he  compared 
the  book  with  their  teachings  he  found  no  in- 
justice had  been  done  by  its  author  to  the  evan- 
gelistic writers. 

And  now  there  came  before  him  a  condition, 
which  in  a  mind  less  self-reliant  and  analytical 
would  have  produced  one  of  two  results.  Possi- 
bly a  yielding  of  the  judgment  to  the  asserted 
authority  of  the  church ;  but  far  more  likely  to 
have  sent  him  to  join  that  groat  body  of  semi- 
unbelievers  Avho  put  aside  Ihe  consideration  of 
divine  truth  because  they  claim  that  they  can- 


NAZARETH   OR   TAR8USf  31 

not  understand  its  complexity;  the  fault  theirs 
equally  with  those  public  teachers  who  have 
placed  before  them  the  temptation  to  thus  avoid 
their  duty. 

Let  us  then  consider  the  condition  which  con- 
fronted him.  There  seemed  to  be  a  choice  be- 
tween two  conclusions  only.  First,  that  the  Life 
had  purposely  omitted  to  convey  a  system  of 
theology  to  those  whom  he  had  chosen  as  His 
historians;  and  that  later  He  had  revealed  this 
system  to  Paul  the  Apostle,  and  through  him  to 
the  world;  or,  secondly,  that  the  Life  did  not 
comprehend  its  mission,  and  so  did  not  recog- 
nize while  on  earth  the  need  of  revealing  to  man- 
kind that  system  of  theology  and  that  theory  of 
his  office — a  knowledge  of  Avhicli  was  essential  to 
an  availing  of  the  benefits  of  His  life  and  death ; 
and  so  a  later  revelation  was  needed,  and  this 
knowledge  was  conveyed  through  St.  Paul.  Then 
— in  either  case — the  little  boolv  was  grossly  in 
error,  or  worse,  in  suppressing  these  important 
truths  of  later  revelation.  That  there  might  be 
another  proposition;  that  neither  of  these  was 
true,  did  not  occur  to  him,  so  perfect  was  his 
confidence  in  his  teacher. 

Desiring  to  devote  all  of  his  attention  to  the 
study  of  the  evidence  presented  to  him,  there 
■were  appeals  made  to  him  which  he  could  not 
resist;  there  came  demands  on  his  time  which 


32  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

engrossed  him  in  behalf  of  others.  But  one 
evening,  too  weary  for  study,  he  had  taken  up 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John  to  beguile  the  hour  with 
the  beauty  of  its  presentation  of  the  love  of  our 
Lord.  He  read  on  uncritically  till  he  came  to 
the  words :  "But  now  ye  seek  to  kill  me.  .  .  . 
Ye  do  the  will  of  your  father.  ...  Ye  are  of 
the  father,  the  devil  ...  he  was  a  murderer 
from  the  beginning." 

Carefully  he  reread  these  sentences,  studiously 
he  examined  the  intervening  words  to  see  if  he 
had  done  violence  to  the  meaning  of  these  sen- 
tences by  grouping  them  together;  critically  he 
examined  the  context  to  find  if  it  modified  the 
apparent  continuity  of  thought.  Assured  that 
the  grouping  did  no  violence  to  the  meaning  of 
the  words,  he  closed  the  book.  For  a  long  time 
he  sat  overcome  by  the  thoughts  that  crowded. 
Fatigue  was  forgotten  now  in  the  absorbing  con- 
sideration of  the  vista  that  these  words  opened. 
By  the  side  of  them  he  placed  the  words 
of  the  clergyman :  "Without  shedding  of  blood 
there  is  no  remission  of  sins."  A  less  robust  in- 
tellect would  have  been  appalled  at  the  complex- 
ity of  thought  Avhich  this  juxtaposition  engen- 
dered, as  he  questioned  with  himself  as  to  what 
were  the  relations  to  one  another,  of  these  trnn- 
Rcendent  personalities  that  were  to  be  paHlci- 
pants  in  this  impending  shedding  of  blood. 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  33 

Were  the  two  divine  personalities  unable  to 
effect  the  atoning  sacrifice  without  the  co-opera- 
tion of  that  fallen  angel  whom  they  had  deposed 
from  heaven?  Or  had  he  intruded  his  partici- 
pancy,  and  the  Divine  were  unable  to  repel  him? 
And  why  did  he  take  a  part  in  this  shedding  of 
blood  if  that  sacrifice  was  to  be  the  means  by 
which  the  Christ  would  overcome  him?  Why 
should  he  be  so  earnest  in  his  purpose  to  effect 
the  undoing  of  his  own  undoing  of  the  race? 
Surely  not  through  ignorance,  for  in  the  desert 
and  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  he  had  recog- 
nized and  battled  with  the  Divine. 

The  midnight  hour  bade  the  Man  to  rest.  But 
for  days  thereafter  these  questions  were  the  un- 
dercurrent of  his  thoughts. 

And  then  there  came  into  his  heart  the  longing 
for  peace.  Why  not  seek  it  in  the  Roman  com- 
munion? It  forbade  such  vain  searching  after 
truth;  it  asserted  its  possession  of  authoritative 
revelation  of  truth.  To  those  who  succeeded  him 
there  had  been  handed  down  by  him  to  whom  the 
Christ  had  delivered  the  keys  of  his  church  the 
poAver  to  distinguish  truth  from  error.  So  it 
claimed :  and  why  not  seek  the  peace  it  offered 
through  this  claim?  But  the  proof?  What  is 
the  evidence  that  the  Christ  did  not  complete  the 
Messianic  message,  but  had  left  important  truths 
for  those  later  revelations  on  which  the  Roman 


34  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

church  founded  so  much  of  its  claims  to  unques- 
tioning credence?  Why,  St.  Paul!  Yes,  St.  Paul. 
He  must  be  the  corner-stone  of  that  church's 
claims,  for  to  him — first  of  all — there  came  the 
vision  of  heaven  and  the  bestowal  of  revelations 
that  the  Lord  could  not  or  would  not  communi- 
cate to  His  chosen  twelve:  revelations  on  which 
are  founded  the  basic  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
church  in  its  entirety — so  the  clergyman  had  told 
him. 

In  unmistakable  terms  the  Lord  had  thus  pro- 
claimed through  St.  Paul  the  incompleteness  of 
his  teachings  on  earth.  So  the  Roman  church 
was  logical  in  its  claim  that  all  down  the  ages 
it  had  received  fresh  revelations  of  the  Divine 
will.  Then  he  recalled  that  twice  within  his  cen- 
tury the  Roman  church  had  received  such  evi- 
dences of  the  Divine  favor ;  revelations  that  were 
the  complement,  the  natural  sequence,  of  those 
of  which  St.  Paul  had,  at  the  outset,  been  the 
medium.  Yes,  there  is  rest,  if  the  evidences  of 
revelations  are  unassailable ;  and  if  they  are  as- 
sailable, the  corner-stone,  St.  Paul,  must  first 
be  found  to  be  unsound.  Yet  this  power  (hat  the 
church  claimed — what  if  that  should  fall  into 
over-zealous  or  even  unscrupulous  hands? 

Vainly  and  long  he  sought  the  test  for  this. 
Yet  the  more  intently  he  pursued  it  the  more  it 
eluded  him.    He  was  convinced  that  his  reason 


NAZARETH   O'R   TARSUSf  35 

could  not  compreliend  the  methods  of  this  test. 
There  seemed  no  alternative  but  to  subscribe  to 
belief  in  that  which  Avas  beyond  his  comprehen- 
sion; and  the  maze  became  more  bewildering  at 
each  step.  Grimly  there  came  to  his  mind  the 
Hibernian  definition  of  faith :  "The  gift  of  God 
that  enables  you  to  believe  what  joii  know  isn't 
true."  But  at  last  he  rose  and  took  a  volume* 
from  his  shelves  and  read : 

"  ^Yes/  said  the  tall  and  solemn  elder,  'it  is 
indeed  nothing  less  than  a  revelation  received 
by  the  head  of  the  church  last  night.  It  con- 
cerns both  you  and  your  daughter.' 

"  'My  daughter,'  gasped  the  woman,  in 
scarcely  audible  tones,  and  I  saw  one  hand  grasp 
the  back  of  a  chair  convulsively. 

"  'Your  daughter,  who  has  now  grown  to  wo- 
manhood,' continued  the  elder,  'and  owes  her 
allegiance  to  the  church.' 

"  'What  is  the  revelation?'  the  woman  forced 
her  drawn  lips  to  ask. 

"  'Through  the  grace  of  the  all-wise  Father 
it  has  been  revealed  to  his  disciple,  Brigham 
Young,  that  your  daughter  Clarissa  should  be- 
come the  third  wife  of  Elder  W ,  here  present 

with  us.' 

"An  awful   silence  ensued,   and  then  a  con- 

*Mrs.  J.  K.  Hudson,  in  T/ie  Nezc  Lippincott. 


36  ^^AZARETH    OR    TARSUSf 

vulsive  movement  in  the  woman's  throat,  as  if 
her  voice  refused  to  utter  a  sound,  attracted  tlie 
attention  of  all,  and  the  men  bowed  their  heads 
that  they  might  not  see." 

The  Man  gave  a  sigh  of  relief.  That  danger 
is  past.  If  brutal  lust  can  successfully  simulate 
divine  revelation;  can  invoke  its  semblance  to 
sanction  its  outraging  of  all  that  is  pure  in  wo- 
manhood ;  then  I  demand  of  the  faith  that  I  ac- 
knowledge that  it  be  untainted  by  the  slightest 
suspicion  that  any  revelation  to  which  it  lnya 
claim  is  soiled  by  sordid  motive.  It  must  give 
me  indubitable  evidence  that  he,  through  whom 
the  revelation  came,  was  a  prophet  of  pure  vision, 
of  clear  and  judicial  intellect  which  did  not  re- 
fract truth  through  vanity  or  prejudice. 

'Now  to  the  study  of  St.  Paul.  I  have  faith  in 
my  teacher.  Yet  with  an  earnestness  that  I 
never  before  employed  I  will  analyze  the  evi- 
dence of  St.  Paul's  fitness  to  be  the  prophet  who 
revealed  our  Lord's  true  mission  to  mankind.' 

Never  before  had  he  attempted  to  solve  a  prob- 
lem that  had  so  perplexed  him — because  never 
before  had  he  been  shut  in  between  two  opposing 
truths.  Truths  they  must  be ;  for  God's  ministei- 
bad  endors(Ml  "esseutinl  to  salvation"  across  the 
dicta  of  Paul,  while  to  the  lieloved  disci]>le  was 
attributed  the  seemingly  conflicting  words  of  his 


NAZARETH   OB   TARSUS t  37 

Master.  'Could  it  be/  he  asked  himself,  'that  there 
is  demanded  an  insight  superior  to  mere  mental 
vision,  to  reconcile  these?  For  surely  no  human 
intellect  can  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  that 
these  create.  Perhaps,  after  all,  the  Catholic  dev- 
otee is  right  when  he  surrenders  individual 
judgment  and  admits  the  claims  of  his  church 
that  it  possesses  a  divinely  endowed  power  to 
recognize  truth:  a  power  mysterious  and  incom- 
prehensible except  to  those  through  whom  God 
has  made  His  revelation.' 

But  these  were  only  passing  thoughts.  The 
Man's  intellect  was  too  virile — perhaps  intellec- 
tual pride  may  have  been  a  potent  influence — to 
permit  him  to  accept  any  solution  to  which  his 
judgment  did  not  assent.  Yet,  turn  which  way 
he  would,  like  the  angel  with  the  flaming  sword, 
this  question  barred  the  way:  'If  the  Divine 
sacrifice  was  essential  to  the  salvation  of  the 
race,  why  was  the  devil  impelling  his  "children" 
to  effect  the  atoning  death?'  and  'Was  it  from 
choice  or  necessity  that  God  admitted  the  devil 
as  co-worker  in  the  plan  of  salvation?'  And — 
though  less  important  than  the  first — there  came 
another  question :  'Why  did  the  Lord  denounce 
those  who  were  necessary  instruments  in  carry- 
ing out  the  Divine  plan  of  salvation?'  Yet  till  the 
iNIan  had  read  all  that  his  teacher  had  indicated 
to  him  he  would  suspend  judgment. 


38  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f 


IV. 


'I  THANK  you  for  the  lesson  you  have  given 
me  to-day.' 

The  speaker  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  man- 
hood. The  Man  admired  handsome  animals ;  and 
it  was  the  torso  and  limbs  of  an  athlete  that 
commanded  favorable  regard  when  the  vacant 
place  in  his  employ  was  applied  for.  He  had 
accepted  the  applicant,  partly  because  there  was 
a  "black  mark"  opposite  his  name,  for  the  Man 
knew  that  in  this  lay  the  possibilities  of  devel- 
oping a  fides  Achates. 

And  the  lesson. 

Ten  miles  behind  them  they  had  left  the 
county  jail,  and  now  they  are  nearing  the  home 
of  the  Man.  Almost  silently  they  had  watched 
the  noble  bay  as  he  swayed  from  side  to  side, 
breasting  the  storm  and  breaking  his  way 
through  the  heavily  gathering  snow,  never  slack- 
ening his  gait,  though  from  time  to  time  an  ear 
was  turned  backward  in  that  silent  appeal  for 
encouragement  which  only  an  intelligent  horse 
will  make  and  which  only  a  true  lover  of  horses 
can  interpret. 


NAZARETH  OR  TARSU8?  39 

As  they  had  entered  the  heavy  doors  of  the 
prison  it  was  evident  that  the  Man  was  not  a 
stranger  there  and  that  he  was  regarded  with  re- 
spect. 

'Let  me  see  the  man  who  was  committed  on 
the  7th.  I  would  like  to  talk  with  him,  with 
your  permission.'  This  to  the  official  who  had 
received  him  with  such  marked  deference. 

With  an  expression  half  cowed,  half  brazen, 
and  wholly  suspicious,  the  prisoner  shambled 
through  the  door  that  opened  from  a  double  tier 
of  cells. 

His  visitor  met  him  more  than  half  vray,  then 
led  him  to  a  chair  and  sat  by  his  side.  'Thank 
you  for  coming  out  to  meet  me.'  The  voice  had 
a  cheery,  distrust-dispelling  ring.  'Now,  we  are 
going  to  be  good  friends ;  and  I  will  help  you  if 
you  will  let  me.' 

As  he  spoke  he  dropped  from  his  own  knee  to 
that  of  the  prisoner  a  slab  of  tobacco.  Lying 
there,  it  served  as  a  drawbridge  on  which  a  new- 
born confidence  was  timidly  venturing  to  meet 
the  visitor. 

Presently  the  prisoner  placed  the  gift  in  his 
pocket;  but  the  expression  of  his  face  showed 
that  he  was  apprehensive  lest  it  might  possess 
some  of  the  qualities  of  the  Trojan  horse:  that 
it  might  include  some  secret  power  that  could 
open  the  gates  of  his  soul  to  a  watchful  enemy. 


40  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

'Your  old  pal  said  it  was  just  your  size.' 

The  prisoner's  face  lighted  up  as  his  visitor 
named  the  associate.  But  this  'slang'  name,  as 
well  as  the  thieves'  vernacular  in  which  the  pris- 
oner spoke — and  which  his  visitor  used  so  far  as 
was  needed  to  establish  confidence — it  would  be 
an  affectation  to  repeat  here. 

'But  I  thought  that  he  was  keeping  shady.' 

'So  he  is;  but  you  know  that  we  must  trust 

some  one ;  and  by  the  way,  the gang  are 

boasting  that  they  have  put  you  out  of  harm's 
way  for  at  least  ten  years.' 

Then  there  burst  from  the  lips  of  the  inmate 
an  exuberant  efflorescence  of  profanity  that  evi- 
dently had  its  roots  in  his  soul,  and  these  were 
fructified  by  the  intensest  hate. 

With  seeming  carelessness  the  visitor  had 
made  the  remark ;  yet  he  knew  that  the  success  or 
the  failure  of  his  important  mission  depended 
upon  how  the  apparently  indifferent  remark  was 
received.  The  prisoner  was  too  much  absorbed 
in  his  'cursory  remarks'  to  observe  the  deep 
#breath  of  relief  and  the  faint  smile  that  assured 
success  had  elicited. 

'Now,  my  dear  fellow,'  and  the  visitor  laid 
his  hand  on  the  inmate's  shoulder — rising  as  he 
spoke — 'my  friend  here  is  all  right,  but  you  and 
I  can  chat  more  freely  at  Ihe  foot  of  the  corri- 
dor.    Come;'  and  together  they  went  to  the  end 


NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS?  41 

of  the  long  passage.  As  they  stand  there  silhou- 
etted against  the  clear  light  let  us  regard  them 
for  a  moment.  One,  erect,  with  a  military  bear- 
ing that  made  soldiers  instinctively  salute  as 
they  passed  him.  The  other,  cringing  yet  reck- 
less; manhood  gone,  but  defiant,  as  if  fate  had 
done  its  worst. 

Presently  the  Man  extends  his  hand.  The  pris- 
oner's is  half  outstretched  to  meet  it,  only  to  be 
withdrawn  in  the  vaccilation  of  a  spirit  that  has 
learned  the  lesson  of  distrust  through  falseness 
to  itself.  But  in  another  moment  as  he  reads 
truth  and  honor  in  the  face  of  the  Man  the  re- 
luctant hand  is  impelled,  as  if  by  an  impulse  of 
distrust  of  his  own  distrust.  So  the  weak  thief 
and  the  strong  man  pledged  faith  to  each  other. 

A  short  conversation  follows,  the  visitor  mak- 
ing a  few  notes  in  his  tablets,  showing  them  to 
the  prisoner  lest  he  might  fear  that  confidence 
had  been  strained ;  then  they  are  ready  to  return. 


43  NAZARETH   OR   TARfiUS? 


Some  weeks  later  the  press  was  loud  in  the 
praises  of  the  alertness  of  the  police  of  a  small 
city  because  it  had  thwarted  the  attack  on  the 
home  of  a  bank  cashier  whom  it  ^  as  intended  to 
force  into  revealing  the  combination  of  the  safes 
of  his  bank. 

Yet  apparently  the  condition  could  not  have 
been  more  favorable  for  successful  entering.  The 
policeman  on  that  beat  was  evidently  asleep.  The 
window  of  the  house  yielded  without  a  sound  to 
the  jimmy;  the  operator  had  no  diflQculty  in  un- 
fastening the  street  door  that  his  fellows  might 
enter.  But  immediately  the  hall  where  he  stood 
was  flooded  with  light  and  at  the  head  of  the 
stairway  he  saw  the  form  of  the  cashier  crouch- 
ing motionless  in  the  shadow. 

Lightly  bounding  up  the  stairs,  the  burglar 
drew  his  revolver  and  covered  the  unmoved  form, 
which  maintained  that  serenity  which  one  has  a 
right  to  expect  from  a  lay  figure  which  has  never 
done  anything  to  shatter  its  nerves. 

Tlie  'drowsy'  policeman's  Winchester  glit- 
tered chillily  as  the  burglar  turned  at  the  'hands 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  43 

up!'  that  came  from  the  doorway  Avhich  he  had 
left  open  for  his  pals.  But  they  were  detained 
outside.  For  two  noisy  roysterers  who  would 
not  'go  home  till  morning,'  and  had  to  cling  to 
each  other  for  mutual  support,  had  suddenly  been 
sobered  and  passed  noiselessly  up  to  the  pals  and 
gave  each  a  wrenching  grip  on  arm  and  shoulder 
which  made  each  stand  quietly,  bending  over 
with  pain,  in  an  attitude  as  if  looking  for  lost 
valuables;  while  a  most  disreputable  looking 
tramp  crawled  out  from  under  the  veranda 
where  he  had  been  asleep,  growling  because  he 
had  been  awakened  from  his  nap,  and  was  shuf- 
fling away.  But  when  ordered  to  assist  in  secur- 
ing the  burglars  he  applied  the  bracelets  with  a 
deftness  and  celerity  that  was  remarkable  in  a 
novice. 

Behind  the  foliage  on  the  other  side  of  the 
street  crouched  a  woman.  Her  rigid  face  and 
staring  eyes  were  like  those  of  the  dead  as  she 
watched  the  silent  procession.  For  there  was 
one  man  there  to  whose  aid  she  would  have  gone 
had  he  been  wounded ;  though  the  devotion  would 
have  cost  her  commitment. 

She  had  been  a  most  faithful  servant — 'such 
a  treasure! — so  superior  to  her  class!' 

In  a  safer  hiding-place  than  her  trunk  she  had 
carried  away  blue-prints  and  drawings  of  the 
interior ;  while  her  faithful  heart  had  carried  all 


44  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

of  the  details  of  the  complete  piping  off  of  the 
house  of  the  cashier. 

And  now  the  faint  tinkle  of  the  steel  links 
seemed  like  a  far-off  knell ;  for  dead  to  her  for  ten 
long  years  at  least  would  be  the  man  she  loved. 

The  prisoner  and  his  visitor  have  returned  to 
the  main  corridor  of  the  jail  and  have  joined  the 
Man's  attendant. 

'We  owe  my  friend  here  something  for  leaving 
him  alone/  said  the  Man.  'Come,  now,  tell  him 
some  of  your  experiences.' 

'Experiences — nothing,'  and  the  prisoner 
turned  away  half  sullenly,  leaning  his  head  on 
his  hands. 

'Doesn't  it  pay?'  The  words  came  slowly 
and  with  a  shade  of  taunt  in  the  tone.  The  Man 
was  intent  on  drawing  him  out.  The  lesson  must 
be  taught. 

'Pay?  Pay?  Pay  hell !  Say,  do  you  believe  in 
a  devil?  I  do !'  And  the  prisoner  sat  erect  and 
faced  his  hearers,  his  manner  almost  defiant. 
'He  draws  us  on ;  he  stirs  up  all  the  recklessness 
and  false  pride  in  us.  And  then,  when  he  has 
ruined  and  betrayed  us,  he  laughs  at  us.  T  mean 
it.  I  have  seen  him  come  into  my  cell  and  gloat 
over  me;  and  when  T  struck  at  him  my  fist  went 
through  him  into  empty  air.'     It  was  a  the- 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  45 

ory  of  the  Man  that  no  healthy  mind  consents  to 
crime. 

^And  back  again  to  prison  we  go  after  a  few 
weeks — at  most  a  few  months — of  freedom. 

^Bnt  what  is  there  for  us  but  crime  when  we  get 
out?  We  know  that  we  have  the  i>rison  pallor; 
we  fear  we  have  the  lock-step  to  further  betray  us 
as  criminals.  If  kind  hearts  secure  work  for  us 
our  past  must  be  told.  He  may  begin  well ;  but 
we  get  tired  of  being  regarded  with  pity  at  the 
best;  perhaps  with  contempt.  The  reckless 
devil  in  us  is  waked  up,  perhaps  by  reading  of  a 
successful  crime — successful  till  the  sleepless  vig- 
ilance of  the  police  run  it  down. 

'Then  we  are  at  it  again ;  and  in  we  go  again. 
That  settles  it ;  Ave  are  "professionals"  then,  and 
we  have  no  place  to  go  when  our  time  is  up  but 
into  the  haunts  of  thieves.  We  have  longed 
for  time-up,  and  we  mean  to  be  more  cautious. 
Society,  we  feel,  is  our  enemy,  and  we  will  make 
it  "life  against  life"  if  we  get  in  a  tight  place. 
But  we  don't.  We  get  caught  again,  and  we  curl 
up  like  whipped  dogs — if  the  odds  are  not  in 
our  favor. 

'Maybe  it's  the  women  Avho  pull  us  down. 
They  are  kind  to  us  when  Ave  come  out.  Maybe 
it  isn't  all  selfishness  on  their  part.  We  are  men 
and  they  are  all  the  women  we  have;  and  when 
they  welcome  us  and  expect  nothing  from  us — 


46  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

for  a  time  at  least — we  lay  our  heads  in  their 
laps  like  Samson,  and  we  listen  to  their  stories 
of  how  different  gangs  have  made  big  hauls  and 
how  generous  they  were  to  their  women.  And 
as  the  days  go  by,  and  we  are  idle,  they  rally  us 
on  our  lost  nerve. 

'Then  our  false  pride  is  aroused  and  we  go 
out  to  win — perhaps.  And  if  we  win  we  are 
proud  if  it ;  and  we  boast  of  our  success  to  them 
— in  acts,  maybe,  more  than  words ;  and  they  be- 
tray us.  Not  intentionally ;  they  have  a  woman's 
love  of  gossip;  they  love,  like  other  women,  to 
show  their  knowledge  of  what  is  going  on  in 
their  world;  and  hoAV  can  they  be  truer  to  us 
than  they  are  to  themselves?  And  soon  the  gos- 
sip filters  down  to  where  the  police  have  their 
lines  out  to  catch  any  bits  of  information.  And 
we  are  run  in. 

'Do  you  think  that  we  confess  to  the  police? 
Not  much !  Our  lawyers  have  taught  us  to  keep 
our  mouths  closed — if  no  one  else  has — and  we 
have  learned  by  experience  that  the  police  can- 
not get  us  shorter  terms  if  we  confess.  But  they 
have  the  game  in  their  own  hands.  There  is  no 
one  to  dispute  them;  but  usually  they  are  right. 
We  travel  beaten  paths,  and  it  is  easy  to  follow 
our  path  once  they  are  on  it,  and  that  path 
usually  leads  through  a  gambling  house.     The 


NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS f  47 

"confession"  shields  some  one  who  has  peached 
on  us — and  jurymen  read  the  newspapers. 

'But  I  could  tell  you  stories  of  the  devotion  of 
the  wives  of  thieves;  how  they  grow  gray  and 
worn  supporting  themselves  and  trying  to  lay  by 
something  till  their  men  are  free:  how  their 
women's  eyes  see  through  the  weakness  or  the 
treacherous  nature  of  the  men  their  husbands 
intend  to  make  their  pals;  how  their  women's 
love  sharpens  their  wits  to  find  the  safest  ways 
to  work  or  to  elude  the  police.  Often  they  could 
save  their  men  from  detection  if  the  husbands 
would  only  be  guided  by  their  wives.' 
He  stopped  awhile,  then  cynically  added : 
'Yes.  If  a  few  days  of  wild  pleasure  is 
enough  for  years  inside  of  prison  walls  then  it 
pays.' 

'There  is  a  storm  gathering,  and  we  have  a 
long  ride  before  us ;  else  we  would  stay  and  chat 
longer  with  you.' 

The  lesson  had  been  taught  and  the  Man  was 
ready  to  go.  'And  now  a  word  of  advice.  Listen 
attentively  to  the  chaplain.  If  he  observes  you 
and  seeks  3'ou  out  personally  do  me  the  favor  to 
show  him  that  you  value  his  counsels.  I  am  not 
advising  you  to  play  the  hypocrite.  You  can  be 
sincere  if  you  choose,  and  I  hope  you  will  be.' 

'I  will  promise  to  do  the  best  I  can  to  follow 


48  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 

your  advice.'  Needlessly  long  the  prisoner  held 
his  visitor's  hand  as  he  bade  him  good-bye.  It 
was  more  than  parting  with  the  man  who  was  the 
first  in  manj  years  whom  he  had  trusted.  He 
felt  that  he  was  parting  from  honesty  and  honor. 
As  the  visitor  passed  out  he  asked  for  and  re- 
ceived the  address  of  the  chaplain. 

The  office  of  public  prosecutor  is  one  in  which 
many  a  travesty  or  miscarriage  of  justice  is 
effected.  That  is  inevitable  where  the  'one- 
man  power'  has  no  check.  In  a  wiser  jurispru- 
dence this  needless  temptation  as  well  as  danger 
will  be  guarded  against.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  can  be  such  discriminative  skill  in  using 
leniency  as  a  means  to  acquire  important  evi- 
dence that  the  arbitrary  power  of  that  office  may 
make  it  a  safe  repository  of  information ;  so  that 
the  otherwise  impracticable  methods  of  justice 
will  be  made  effective. 

To  such  a  wisely  administered  office  there 
came  the  knowledge  of  what  the  prisoner  had 
done  to  prevent  a  great  crime. 

So  when  the  kind  chaplain  bore  witness  to  the 
prisoner's  penitence  the  public  prosecutor  had 
pretext  for  asking  that  the  greatest  possible  len- 
iency be  shown  to  the  penitent. 

And  when  the  judge  gave  only  a  liglit  sentence 
l])e  good  chaplain  came  forward  and  grasped  the 


'NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  49 

prisoner's  hand,  certain  tliat  it  was  through  his 
ministrations — and  these  alone — that  the  miti- 
gation was  established. 

But  the  prisoner  looked,  through  eyes  dimmed 
by  gratitude,  beyond  the  clergyman  wondering 
at  the  strange  indifference,  to  the  Man  whom  he 
knew  has  kept  his  word,  and  had  unobtrusively 
wrought  the  mitigation  of  his  sentence. 

Then  he,  for  whose  sake  the  lesson  had  been 
elicited,  resumed: 

'I  am  not  afraid  to  tell  you  that  more  than 
you  know — more,  perhaps,  than  I  know — I  have 
taken  your  lesson  to  heart. 

■^When  I  applied  to  you  for  employment  I 
came  believing  what  your  enemies  had  said  of 
you ;  and  I  came  prepared  to  throw  that  in  your 
face  if  you  had  refused  me  because  you  had 
heard  bad  reports  of  me.  I  saw  that  you  looked 
me  through  and  through;  and  I  felt  that  you 
cared  only  for  what  your  eyes  told  you.  They 
who  hated  you,  because  they  had  found  out  that 
you  had  a  heavy  hand  for  those  who  were  cruel 
or  unjust,  had  taught  me  that  your  home  was  a 
fit  place  for  a  man  who  has  made  such  a  slip  as 
I  have  made.' 

*I  saw  all  of  that  plainly,'  was  the  answer, 
^and  I  saw  that  beneath  it  were  the  possibilities 
of  a  faithful  member  of  my  household.' 


50  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf 

'By  degrees  I  saw  that  your  enemies  had  lied 
about  you.  Then  surprise  changed  to  admira- 
tion ;  and  before  I  knew  it  I  was  growing  to  love 
your  home. 

'There  was  not  there  one  of  the  things  I  had 
been  taught  a  home  needs.  Not  one  person  in  it 
who  has  not  the  right  to  leave  at  any  moment. 
Not  one  tie  to  fix  any  one  there.  Yet  each  one  is 
thoughtful  of  the  comfort  of  the  others.  Never 
a  cross  word  or  a  word  of  command ;  and  there  is 
no  fear  there  except  the  fear  of  failing  to  please 
you. 

'When  I  was  a  boy  I  used  to  visit  my  grand- 
father. Each  morning  I  had  to  listen  to  his  long 
reading  and  longer  prayers ;  but  I  was  comforted 
by  thinking  about  the  waffles  and  maple  syrup 
that  would  follow.  I  remember  that  one  morn- 
ing he  read  how  the  Hebrew  servant,  when  his 
time  was  up — I  mean  when  his  freedom  came, 
but  loving  his  master  so  well  that  he  did  not  wish 
to  leave  him — would  let  his  master  run  an  awl 
through  his  ear  and  fasten  him  to  a  doorpost  of 
the  house;  and  then  he  was  a  part  of  the  house- 
hold as  long  as  he  lived.  If  it  was  the  custom 
now  I  would  furnish  the  ear  if  you  would  furnish 
the  awl  and  the  doorpost.' 

Then,  more  seriously,  he  added : 

'I  never  before  knew  what  the  word  home 
meant.     I  can't  expect  you  to  trust  me  so  soon ; 


"NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  51 

but  I  shall  be  glad  when  you  can  tell  me  you 
have  confidence  in  me  and  will  let  me  feel  that 
it  is  my  home.     I  will  work  hard  for  this.' 

In  the  Man's  voice  and  manner  there  was  more 
of  the  comrade  than  of  the  master  as  he  gave 
assurance  of  how  deeply  the  expression  of  devo- 
tion had  moved  him. 

'And  now  you  are  part  of  our  home.  Its 
honor  is  yours  to  protect ;  and  more,  it  will  pro- 
tect you.  Whoever,  from  this  time  forward,  re- 
flects on  you  attacks  our  home.  You  are  not 
built  in  such  a  way  that  you  need  to  take  a  gross 
insult  from  any  man.  But  you  will  have  the 
good  sense  not  to  proceed  to  extremities.' 

'You  need  not  fear — if  the  insult  is  to  me 
alone.  If  to  you  or  to  our  home  there  is  likely  to 
be  an  accident  that  will  need  hospital  treat- 
ment.' 

'Well,  here  we  are;  home  at  last.  I  will  send 
out  a  cup  of  hot  milk  to  you ;  for  I  know  that  you 
will  not  leave  Don  while  there  is  a  moist  hair  on 
him.' 

'Trust  me  for  that ;  every  hair  will  be  "as  dry 
as  a  drunkard's  morning  throat"  before  I  close 
the  stable  door.' 

"Unto  whom  much  is  forgiven,  the  same  lov- 
eth  much," — and  long  and  faithfully — if  the  hand 
of  him  who  forgives  has  iron  under  the  velvet. 


52  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f 


VI. 


Most  cordial  was  the  clergyman's  welcome. 
All  his  experience  assured  him  that  the  coming 
again  of  the  truth-seeker  could  have  but  one  mo- 
tive— the  admission  of  the  truth  of  the  accepted 
Christian  theology. 

But  in  the  full  light  of  his  study  as  the  two 
men  faced  each  other  there  was  an  ominous 
hardness  in  the  visitor's  face.  'With  sorrow  I 
observe  that  you  are  not  at  peace.' 

And  the  Man  answered :  ^4nd  why  peace?  Did 
not  He  say:  "I  come  not  to  bring  peace,  but  a 
sword?"  Over  your  door  I  saw  no  warning  leg- 
end :  "Who  enters  here  leaves  peace  behind ;"  but 
here  I  left  the  peace  that  was  like  a  child's  trust, 
and  I  have  not  regained  it  nor  found  its  sem- 
blance in  the  line  of  study  that  you  marked  out 
for  me,  though  I  have  faithfully  followed  it.' 

The  clergyman  recognized  the  challenge  and 
mentally  girded  himself  for  the  struggle. 

*I  have  studied  tliat  man,  Saul  of  Tarsus,  as 
I  have  never  searched  the  life  of  any  other  man. 
It  is  a  most  absorbing  subject.' 

*And  you  find  that  he  is ' 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf  53 

'The  most  complex  character  that  I  have  in- 
vestigated. Unreservedly  I  concede  him  to  be, 
facile  prUiceps,  the  Christian  poet  of  the  first 
century.  Poet  surely,  and  with  all  of  the  "divine 
madness"  of  the  poet.  The  "divine"  in  a  poetical 
sense.  The  "madness"  we  will  consider  in  this 
analysis.'  As  he  said  this  he  laid  a  roll  of  manu- 
script on  the  study  table. 

'Yet  I  beg  that  you  will  recognize  that  in  this 
attempt  to  prove  that  Paul's  mind  was  disor- 
dered, and  also  in  that  which  I  shall  say  to  you 
here  to  the  same  effect,  my  only  sentiment  is  pity 
for  his  sufferings — which  are  so  apparent. 
Wherever  I  express  contempt  or  indignation  it  is 
only  nominally  directed  against  him.  My  con- 
tempt is  for  those  who  have  refused  to  recognize 
Paul's  incapacity  to  develop  a  system  of  Chris- 
tian theology;  who  have  accepted  his  vagaries 
as  divine  truth,  and  have  demanded  their  general 
acceptance.  It  is  against  these  alone  that  I 
make  my  complaint.  For  I  recognize  in  him 
an  earnest  seeker  after  righteousness.  Nay, 
more;  he  highly  attained  to  righteousness;  for 
his  innate  revulsion  to  that  which  v>'as  unright- 
eous was  an  integral  part  of  his  nature.  Yet 
he  seems  to  me  to  have  been  saturated  with  an 
intense  egotism  that  gave  its  color  to  his  beliefs 
and  utterances.' 

'But  surely  if  you  concede  his  innate  love  of 


54  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

righteousness  you  cannot  but  admit  his  fitness 
to  be  a  teacher  of  divine  truth?' 

'A  teacher — no.  A  preacher — a  most  elo- 
quent preacher — j^es.  There  is  a  vast  differ- 
ence between  the  two.  But  the  innate  desire  for 
righteousness  does  not  include  all  that  is  essen- 
tial to  the  leading  of  men  into  a  true  faith. 
Teachers  most  unlike  him  have  been  possessed  by 
this  desire.  "Would  you  know,"  says  Epictetus, 
"the  means  to  perfection  which  Socrates  fol- 
lowed? They  were  these:  In  every  single  mat- 
ter which  came  before  him  he  made  the  rule  of 
reason  and  conscience  his  one  rule  to  follow." 
So,  too,  with  Mohammed.  The  unity,  spiritual- 
ity, presence  and  power  of  God,  the  necessity  of 
righteousness,  were  truths  clear  to  him.' 

^But  surely  you  would  not  compare  Moham- 
med with  St.  Paul?' 

'Compare  them?  Certainly.  Attempt  to  draw 
a  parallel? — surely  not.  That  would  be  mani- 
festly unfair — to  IMohammed.  He  fell  before  the 
temptations  that  he,  evidently  standing  alone, 
encountered  in  his  short  life.  Nay  more;  he 
encountered  those  temptations  in  almost  as  few 
years  as  through  centuries  the  church — in  its  en- 
tirety, with  its  strength  of  numbers  and  organ- 
ization— battled;  and  it,  too,  fell.  And  both  fell 
before  the  same  temptations.  Ilis  purity  of  pur- 
pose— ^^  hether  you  call  it  divinely  implanted  or 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSVSf  55 

only  a  natural  revulsion  to  the  evil  about  him — 
fell;  just  as  the  church  at  that  time  had  fallen 
before  the  temptations  of  self-gratiflcation  and 
love  of  power.  And  the  last  of  these  was  doubt- 
less, in  both  instances,  the  parent  of  the  other. 
If  his  self-indulgence  was  animal  it  was  not  less 
debasing  than  was  that  form  which  possessed 
the  church.  "Faith  had  evaporated  in  worship 
of  images ;  still  more  in  discussion  of  metaphys- 
ical subtleties  about  God;  had  given  way  to  a 
worldliness  and  corruption  that  could  not  be 
hidden."  And  the  intellectual  pride  which  had 
substituted  these  metaphysical  subtleties  for  the 
pure  faith  bequeathed  to  the  simple  Galilean 
fisherman  was  clearly  traceable  to  the  malign  in- 
fluence of  an  intellectual  pride,  which  clearly 
had  its  impulse,  at  least  its  excuse,  in  the  scho- 
lastic vanity  of  Saul  of  Tarsus ;  who  held  in  such 
unmistakable  contempt  the  message  given  to 
those  humble  attendants  whom  our  Lord  had 
chosen  as  his  apostles. 

'Could  there  have  percolated  down  to  Moham- 
med— rather  let  us  say,  if  his  then  pure  spirit 
had  possessed  the  opportunity  to  draw  up  to  it — 
a  genuine  Christianity ;  if,  too,  the  power  of  evil 
had  not  taken  away  Khadijeh,  his  true  wife,  his 
consoler  in  his  spiritual  despair,  his  guardian 
against  temptation — who  can  forecast  the  power 
for  good  that  Mohammed  would  have  wrought 


56  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f 

in  rebuking  the  debased  Christianity  of  his  day, 
in  "provoking"  it  to  resume  its  apostolic  purity?' 

'Do  you  consider  Mohammed  equally  inspired 
with  St.  Paul?'  the  clergyman  asked. 

'Why  not?  St.  Paul  was  always  a  Pharisee; 
with  all  of  the  bad  and  all  of  the  good  qualities 
of  the  Pharisee.  He  never  abandoned  that  atti- 
tude. Mohammed  heard  his  call  while  en- 
gaged in  earnest,  humble  searching  after 
God,  and  he  eagerly  followed  what  he  believed 
to  be  the  voice  of  Gabriel.  Saul  of  Tarsus 
was  terrorized  out  of  an  antagonism  to 
the  Christ  that  he  was  persecuting.  Far  more 
wonderful  miracles  than  the  light  that  shone  at 
noonday  and  the  voice  that  spoke  to  him  on  the 
way  to  Damascus  had  attested  the  divinity  of  the 
Christ.  To  these  greater  miracles  he  was  indif- 
ferent, though  doubtless  he  knew  of  them.  Per- 
sonal fear,  the  blinded  eyes;  these  overpowered 
him.  Yet  they  had  sufficiently  their  raison  d'etre 
in  the  deliverance  of  the  Damascus  believers 
from  his  persecutions.  There  was  no  precedent 
in  the  acts  of  our  Lord  for  such  methods  of 
choosing  and  dedicating  an  apostle.' 

'Then  you  believe  that  IMohammedanism  had 
possibilities  that  could  have  developed  it  into 
being  the  peer  of  Christianity  in  true  spiritual- 
ity?' the  clergyman  asked, 

'Surely  not;  for  it  did  not  possess  the  ele- 


2^ AZ ARETE   OR   TARSUS f  57 

ments  of  intellectual  strength  with  which  a  pure 
spirituality  must  be  allied;  for  there  were  in- 
herent weaknesses  that  made  impossible  even  the 
maintaining  of  the  wonderful  intellectual  tri- 
umphs of  the  Moslems  in  the  Middle  Ages.  But 
its  fatal  weakness  is  that  in  it  there  is  no  place 
for  the  Divine  love.  It  taught  only  God's  sov- 
ereignty. 

'In  missing  the  love  of  God  it  failed  to  attain 
to  that  which  is  the  only  foundation  of  pure  al- 
truism, on  which  alone  must  rest  a  true  spirit- 
uality— as  well  as  a  progressive  civilization — 
and  no  other  can  be  abiding. 

'And  yet  how  beautiful  was  the  calling  of 
Mohammed.  "Thou  art  the  messenger  of  God, 
and  I  am  Gabriel."  Such  was  the  message  that 
he  believed  had  come  to  him. 

'Disappointments,  mockery,  insults,  persecu- 
tions were  given  to  him  in  as  full  measure  as  to 
Paul;  but  unflinchingly  he  bore  them;  and  his 
faith  failed  not. 

'We  admire  Paul's  attacking  the  worship  of 
Diana  in  Ephesus.  Mohammed's  motive  and  ex- 
periences in  Mecca  were  almost  parallel. 

'The  appeal  of  his  hunted  followers  is  as  beau- 
tiful as  if  from  the  lips  of  Christian  devotees: 
"Oh,  King,  we  lived  in  ignorance,  idolatry  and 
unchastity;  the  strong  oppressed  the  weak;  we 
spoke  untruth;  we  violated  the  laws  of  hospi- 


58  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

talitj.  Then  a  prophet  arose,  one  whom  we 
knew  from  our  youth;  with  whose  conduct  and 
good  faith  and  morality  we  were  well  acquainted. 
He  taught  us  to  worship  one  God,  to  speak  truth, 
to  keep  good  faith,  to  assist  our  relations,  to 
fulfill  the  rites  of  hospitality,  and  to  abstain 
from  all  things  impure,  ungodly,  unrighteous. 
We  believed  him,  and  followed  him. 

*  "But  our  countrymen  persecuted  and  tortured 
us,  and  tried  to  cause  us  to  forsake  our  religion. 
And  now  we  throw  ourselves  upon  thy  protec- 
tion. Wilt  not  thou  protect  us?"  Then  one  of 
them  recited  a  part  of  the  Koran  that  spoke  of 
Christ;  and  the  king  and  the  Christian  bishops 
wept  upon  their  beards.  And  the  king  dis- 
missed the  Ambassador  of  the  Koreysh,  and 
would  not  give  up  the  refugees.  Thereupon  per- 
secution waxed  hotter  in  Mecca;  and  Moham- 
med answered  it  with:  "While  God  commands 
me,  I  will  not  renounce  my  purpose."  ' 

^But  you  admit  that  St.  Paul  was  possessed 
by  a  real  love  of  righteousness.  The  fruit  of 
that  must  be  a  noble  exemplification  of  the  moral 
law;  and  if  he  was  filled  with  revulsion  to  the 
Law,  because .  it  had  failed  to  establish  the 
moral  precepts,  then  the  general  influence  of 
his  teachings  must  be  to  establish  moral  con- 
ditions— even  if  sometimes  he  is  led  away,  by 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  59 

his  intensity,  into  hyperbole  and  poetical  exag- 
geration.' 

To  this  the  Man  replied:  'Any  really  great 
leader  must  be  the  master  of  himself ;  and  noth- 
ing could  be  more  confusing,  in  our  attempts  to 
establish  the  moral  responsibility  of  each  indi- 
vidual, than  is  Paul's  statement  that  he  was  pos- 
sessed by  an  influence,  independent  of  himself, 
that  impelled  him  to  do  wrong  contrary  to  his 
intent.* 

'Hence  if  we  were  to  allow,  generally,  this 
shifting  of  moral  responsibility — through  the  at- 
tributing the  culpability  for  sin  to  an  external 
power,  either  personal  or  impersonal ;  which  was 
not  simply  an  influence,  but  an  irresistibly  im- 
pelling power — we  should  lower  moral  stand- 
ards through  weakening  of  individual  responsi- 
bility. 

'Thus  Paul's  influence  did  not  make  for  moral 
conditions.  Paul's  influence  was  certainly  bad  in 
this  respect.  I  do  not  forget  that  elsewhere — 
indeed  almost  immediately — Paul  takes  an  en- 
tirely contradictory  attitude;  but  this  is  an- 
other instance  of  that  vacillation  which  adds  to 
our  confusion;  and  adds  to  our  distrust  of  the 
man,  of  his  doctrines,  and  of  the  validity  of  his 

*  Rom.  vii.  i  :  "  So  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it  (evil),  but  sin 
that  dwelleth  in  me."  Rom.  vii.  25  :  "So  then  I  myself  with 
the  mind  serve  the  law  of  God,  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of 
sin." 


(30  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 

claims  to  inspiration.  Paul  may  have  caused — 
surely  furnished  the  palliation  of — the  Mani- 
chiEan  tenet  of  inherent  evil  in  the  flesh.  In  our 
estimate  of  what  constitutes  moral  reponsibility 
nothing  could  be  more  confusing  than  are  these 
statements  of  Paul. 

'Plato  was  not  only  nearer  right,  but  he  was 
clearer  and  more  convincing  in  his  strong,  incis- 
ive reasoning — so  sharply  contrasting  with 
Paul's  vacillation,  and  with  his  impulsive,  emo- 
tional utterances.  "God  is  not  the  author  of  evil. 
Moral  evil  is  the  result  of  the  abuse  of  .free  agen- 
cy, and  God  stands  justified  in  creating  beings 
liable  to  both;"  i.e.,  liable  to  exposure  to  good 
and  evil.' 

Then  you  do  not  believe  in  an  actual  personal 
devil?'  the  clergyman  asked. 

'Most  assuredly  I  do.  Else  I  could  not  justify 
my  belief  in  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John. 

'Througli  a  form  of  what  might  be  called  Spir- 
itualism I  have  been  forced  to  one  of  two  conclu- 
sions. First,  that  I — in  common  with  every 
friend  who  has  co-operated  with  me  in  my  inves- 
tigations— am  possessed  of  an  eidolon,  or  daemon, 
its  existence  wholly  unsuspected  till  souglit  and 
questioned;  which  is  coarse,  lying,  profane,  fond 
of  giving  pain  through  false  statements;  more- 
over, it  can  use  our  muscles  as  it  wills,  and  this 
control  is  without  the  consciousness  of  that  part 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  61 

of  our  intelligence  which  we  call  our  minds.  Or 
else  I  must  believe  that  there  are  actually  lost 
spirits  which  come  and  tell  of  intimacy  with  and 
submission  to  the  devil.  I  was  obliged  to  end 
my  investigations  because  they  were  evidently  so 
unwelcome  that  they  provoked  only  profane  and 
abusive  manifestations.  Of  this  alone  I  am  sure: 
that  spiritualism  is  simply  a  revelation  of  that 
which  is  wholly  bad  within  us  or  external  to  us ; 
and  surely  I  wish  to  believe  that  there  is  a 
devil  and  his  angels,  rather  than  to  think  that 
the  coarseness,  maliciousness  and  profanity 
which  were  invariably  expressed,  were  not  the 
outward  and  visible  sign  of  a  debased  inward 
spirit,  Avhich  was  an  inherent  part  of  the  mind 
and  soul  of  my  friends  and  of  myself.  I  regret 
that  I  could  not  investigate  further,  and  yet  I 
can  conceive  of  no  scientific  test  that  could  have 
been  applied  to  demonstrate  either  theory.  Yet 
I  shall  never  forget  the  expressions  of  self-con- 
tempt for  life  misspent  on  earth,  whatever  their 
source  may  have  been.  Hence  I  do  not  challenge 
Paul's  statement  that  he  was  attacked  by  a 
power  wholly  external  to  himself. 

^But  it  is  incredible  that  this  malign  power 
could  enter  and  dominate  a  soul  that,  as  Paul 
claims,  had  been  consecrated  by  a  divine  call  to 
apostleship  and  by  a  special  revelation  of  the 
Christ  will  and  teachings,  and  yet  these  divinely 


62  VAZ ARETE   OR    TARSUS? 

endowed  influences  be  so  powerless  to  resist  the 
demon  that  they  snccumbed  and  left  Paul  a  pris- 
oner in  the  hands  of  the  power  of  evil. 

'One  or  the  other  of  these  statements  is  un- 
true; yet  presenting  an  incongruity  that  is  thor- 
oughly Pauline.  I  do  not  forget  Judas;  but  he 
voluntarily  entertained  the  tempter. 

'But  to  return  to  Paul.  Thoroughly  arbitrary 
are  his  assumptions  in  regard  to  the  relations  of 
free  will  to  God,  Is  what  men  do  the  result  of 
their  own  choice  or  is  it  determined  for  them, 
and  if  the  latter,  how  can  they  justly  be  pun- 
ished? (Rom.  iii.  5;  ix.  19.)  The  answer  is  given 
in  the  form  of  an  antinomy,  of  which  the  thesis 
is  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  antithesis  the 
responsibility  of  men.  He  states  that  the  sov- 
ereignty of  God  is  absolute;  that  God  has  no 
moral  obligation  to  men;  there  is  no  qualifica- 
tion of  God's  power,  no  moral  rights  of  men.  He 
quotes  the  Law  and  the  prophets  to  show  that 
only  a  remnant,  an  elect  remnant,  of  Israel 
would  be  saved;  and  that  all  others  should  be 
blinded.  But  when  he  finds  himself  involved  by 
the  statement  that  God  has  blinded  and  repro- 
bated other  men  so  that  they  shall  not  reach  this 
blessing,  Paul  can  escape  only  by  the  arbitrary 
and  literal  use  of  the  poetical  imagery  of  Jere- 
miah and  of  the  son  of  Sirach :  the  figure  of  the 
clay  and  the  potter.    "He  hath  mercy  on  whom 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  63 

he  will,  and  whom  he  will  he  hardeneth"  (Rom. 
ix.  18-23).  The  "vessels  of  wrath  fitted  unto  de- 
struction" ;  "vessels  of  mercy  prepared  unto 
glory."  Yet  elsewhere  Paul  attempts  to  vindi- 
cate God  by  attributing  to  man  an  entire  respon- 
sibility, but  makes  no  attempt  to  reconcile  the 
conflicting  theories.  He  further  defines  God's 
plan  of  bringing  the  knowledge  of  salvation  to 
the  Gentiles  as  including  the  purpose  thus  to 
"provoke  to  jealousy"  the  Jews,  and  that  the 
Gentiles  "now  have  obtained  mercy"  by  the  dis- 
obedience of  the  Jews;  "even  so  have  these  also 
now  been  disobedient,  that  by  the  mercy  shown  to 
you  they  also  may  now  obtain  mercy."  The 
crowning  absurdity  of  these  utterances  is  (Rom. 
X.  32)  :  '.'For  God  hath  shut  up  all  unto  disobe- 
dience, that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all."  And 
then,  in  one  of  those  periods  of  lucidity  that 
only  emphasize  his  aberration,  in  the  next  two 
verses,  Paul  says:  "How  unsearchable  are  his 
judgments,  and  his  ways  past  tracing  out.  For 
who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord?"  This 
calm,  consistent  flow  of  thought  and  language 
is  as  if  another  writer  had  taken  up  the  pen  of 
Paul  to  rebuke  him  for  that  looseness  and  ex- 
travagance of  expression  which  would  be  blas- 
phemy from  one  who  was  sane. 

'Most  repugnant — and  in  no  way  authorized 
by  the  words  of  our  Lord — are  Paul's  statements 


64  NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS? 

that  Christ  (Gal.  iii.  13)  was  "made  a  curse  for 
us";  and  "He  made  him  to  be  (II.  Cor.  v.  21) 
sin  for  us." 

'His  theology  is  so  different  from  that  of 
John.  "He  was  manifested  to  take  ( I.  John  iii. 
5-6)  away  our  sin.  For  this  purpose  the  Son 
of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil."  In  this  epistle,  as  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  we  see  the  rejection  of  Christ  ex- 
plained, not  as  a  casual  outcome  of  individual 
caprice  or  wickedness,  but  as  an  inevitable  result 
of  the  eternal  antagonism  between  light  and 
darkness. 

Taul  further  adds  to  his  confusion  of  doc- 
trine by:  "But  if  our  Gospel  is  veiled  .  .  . 
the  god  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of 
unbelievers"  (II.  Cor.  iv.  4).  Yet  he  has  re- 
peatedly stated  that  God  is  the  cause  of  this 
blindness. 

'Here,  as  frequently  elsewhere,  ho  furnishes  to 
modern  Unitarianism  and  (I.  Cor.  xx.  24-28)  to 
the  heretical  sects  of  the  early  church,  their  au- 
thority for  believing  in  the  inferiority  of  the 
Son  to  the  Father. 

'  ( I.  Cor.  XV.  29. )  He  does  not  rebuke,  but  re- 
cords with  seeming  approval  the  baptizing  of  the 
living  for  the  dead.  How  can  we  condemn  the 
doctrine  of  purgatory  and  the  saying  of  masses 
for  the  dead  so  long  as  we  make  no  protest 
•against  these  words  of  Paul? 


NAZARETH   O'B   TARSU8?  65 

'(Eph.  i.  20.)  Here,  as  elsewhere,  he  states 
that  the  Father  raised  Christ  from  the  dead. 
That  is,  that  Christ  did  not  rise  by  his  own  inher- 
ent power;  and  then  clearly  implies  that  the 
power  which  Christ  subsequently'  held  was  not 
previously  existent,  as  poAver  co-equal  with  that 
of  the  Father,  but  a  lesser  power,  and  that  it  was 
not  bestoAved  in  its  fullness  till  after  the  ascent 
to  heaven. 

'What  matters  it  that  these  assumed  limi- 
tations of  our  Lord  are  directly  opposed  to  His 
positive  and  repeated  claims  to  co-equal  power — 
claims  that  include  the  asserting  of  a  power  over 
life  (John  x.  18),  that  is  equal  to  the  power 
which  the  Father  possesses.  Theology  demands 
that  the  dicta  of  Paul  be  unquestioned. 

'(I.  Cor.  viii.  6.)  "The  Father  of  whom  are 
all  things  and  Jesus  Christ  through  whom  are 
all  things,"  is  like  the  Logos  of  Plato.  That 
Paul  does  not  refer  to  the  Johannean  Logos  was 
perhaps  because  he  was  imbued  with  the  theory 
of  Philo:  for  Paul  refers  (Col.  iii.  16)  to  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  in  terms  so  like  the  conceptions 
of  Philo  and  so  unlike  the  Johannean  conception, 
that  the  omission  suggests  the  question  whether 
his  antagonism  to  the  apostles  made  him  ready 
to  accept,  or  was  caused  by,  his  Platonic  views 
on  this  important  doctrine.' 


66  tJAZARETH   OR   TARSUB? 


VII. 


In  support  of  his  criticism  the  Man  quoted: 
"Who  can  measure  the  evil  that  came  from 
Paul's  practical  denial  of  the  true  Logos?  That 
he  still  held  to  his  Jewish  theological  ideas  is 
shown  by  his  urging  the  universality  of  death  as 
proof  of  universality  of  sin,  'for  it  was  a  fixed 
Jewish  belief  that  God  created  all  men  to  be 
immortal.'  Yet  that  all  men  died  Paul  claimed 
was  evidence  that  all  men  had  sinned.  But  he 
gives  no  explanation  of  how  he  deduces  this,  or 
how  revealed  to  him.  He  states  that  sin  is  uni- 
versal, and  that  it  is  so  inevitably.  He  attempts 
to  prove  this  by  stating  that  sin  is  inseparable 
from  human  nature,  but  gives  no  evidence  to  sup- 
port the  statement  that  mankind  as  a  race  was 
involved  in  the  sin  of  Adam  (Rom.  v.  12-19; 
I.  Cor.  XV.  21,  22).  Through  the  one  man's  dis- 
obedience the  many  were  made  sinners  (Rom.  v. 
19),  is  an  alternative  expression  with  'through 
the  trespass  of  one  the  many  died'  (Rom.  v.  15). 
But  as  to  the  mode  in  which  the  'trespass'  or  'dis- 
obedience' of  Adam  affected  the  wliole  human 
race,  no  information  is  given,  and  it  has  puzzled 
Christian  theology  for  centuries.'^ 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  67 

"Paul  favors  the  theory  of  sin  being  inherent, 
or  has  obtained  a  permanent  lodgment — as  it 
suits  him  for  the  moment." 

"Paul's  theology  has  two  elements,  the  logical 
and  the  mystical,  which  are  seldom  wholly  sep- 
arated from  each  other,  and  it  is  these  elements 
that  have  permitted  his  ideas  to  be  so  readily 
modified  or  construed  or  combined  as  to  form 
the  foundation  of  varied  systems  of  theology; 
for  Paul's  variety  and  complexity  of  expression, 
his  varying  metaphors  permit  such  varied  con- 
struction that  they  are  readily  adaptable  to  any 
interpretation  in  favor  of  which  the  student  is 
prepossessed." 

"So,  too,  the  liberty  that  Paul  takes,  in  di- 
rectly opposed  statements,  as  Phil.  iii.  6,  'a  right- 
eousness that  is  in  the  law,'  and  Gal.  ii.  16,  'By 
the  works  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified.'  " 

"So,  also,  the  reasons  for  the  giving  of  the 
law,  when — as  he  asserts — it  was  destined  to 
failure.*  These  passages  allow  the  conclusion 
that  the  law  was  promulgated  to  make  the  sinful- 
ness of  sin  more  apparent;  or  they  may  be  con- 
strued to  mean  to  make  sin  more  heinous,  though 
in  no  way  restraining  it.  Preconceived  ideas 
and  temperament  of  the  student  leading  to 
either — or  any  intermediate — conclusion." 

*  Gal.  iii.  ig;  Rom.  iii.  20;  v.  20,  and  vii.  13;  I.  Cor.  xv.  56, 


68  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f 

"Again  his  complexity  of  ideas,  in  his  concep- 
tion of  Christ's  mission,  is  so  involved  that  no 
consistent  reasoner  can  be  guided  by  them.* 

"Equally  involved  and  complex — though 
naturally  less  contradictory — are  Paul's  descrip- 
tions of  the  changes  in  man  through  the  power 
of  Christ." 

'Noble  are  his  exalted  ideas  and  his  descrip- 
tions of  faith;  but  these  are  no  indications  that 
he  had  received  a  special  revelation  of  the  office 
of  Christ;  and  furnish  no  justification  for  ac- 
cepting, as  a  teacher  of  doctrine,  a  man  whose 
poetic  enthrallment  leads  him  to  use  any  terms 
that  serve  the  moment;  terms  that  illustrate  or 
vivify  the  emotion — not  conviction — that  ab- 
sorbs him;  till  a  new  impulse  leads  him  to  an- 
other flight  of  sentiment. 

'His  intense  love  of  polemics,  his  intellectual 
pride,  were  constantly  leading  him  away  from 
his  really  dominant  conviction,  that  righteous- 
ness, "a  conscience  void  of  offense  towards  God 

*As  Sacrifice,  I.  Cor.  v.  7;  Rom.  v.  25.  (i)  Reconciliation, 
Rom.  V.  TO,  11;  II.  Cor.  v.  18,  19.  (2)  Saved  from  the  wTath 
of  God,  Rom.  i.  16  and  v.  9;  Rom.  iii.  24;  I.  Cor.  i.  30;  Ei)h.  i. 
7;  Col.  i.  14.  (3)  Lans?ua.c:e  of  purchase  of  a  slave,  I.  Cor.  v\. 
20  and  vii.  23.  Free  from  bondaj^e  to  the  law.  Gal.  iv.  5. 
(4)  Bondage  to  the  elements  of  the  universe  or  material  thinc^s. 
Gal.  iv.  3,  9;  Col.  ii.  15.  (5)  To  the  varied  ideas  of  'acquittal,' 
not  justification  by  God's  favor,  Rom.  iii,  24;  by  Blood  of 
Christ,  Rom.  v.  0;  Gal.  ii.  17;  by  Faith,  Rom.  xi.  28  and  v.  i; 
Gal.  xii.  8,  24.  Mvstical  union  of  Christ  and  men,  so  that  they 
died  with  him  and  rose  with  him,  Rom.  vi.  3-10;  Gal.  ii.  20; 
Eph.  ii.  5,  6;  Col.  ii.  12. 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS t  69 

and  man,"  is  the  basis  of  a  true  religious  life; 
led  him  into  wild  vagaries  and  illogical  reason- 
ings, which  have  furnished  the  pretext  for  count- 
less errors  in  belief.' 

From  the  Pauline  quiver  the  clergyman  drew 
another  shaft. 

'You  have  admitted  the  beauty  of  St.  Paul's 
poetic  conceptions.  But  more  than  poetical 
imagery  is  his  demonstration  of  (Gal.  iv. )  the 
glorious  freedom  of  the  Christian  under  the 
gospel  and  of  the  Hebrew  bondage  under  the  law ; 
using  as  illustration  Isaac,  the  son  of  the  free- 
woman,  and  Ishmael,  the  sou  of  the  bondwoman. 
Clearly — except  to  those  who  are  unwilling  to 
be  convinced — he  demonstrates  that  the  lower 
plane  of  genesis  of  the  law  must  be  followed  by 
failure  to  attain  to  other  than  bondage,  because 
it  was  of  that  which  the  bondwoman  was  a  fit- 
ting type;  Avhile  freedom  waited  on  the  later 
birth  that  came  of  the  liberty  in  Christ  Jesus 
which  the  free  woman  represented.' 

And  the  Man  answered : 

'Let  me  complete  Paul's  illustration,  "Now" 
this  Hagar,  is  Mount  Sinai."  But  it  was  on 
Mount  Sinai  that  the  commandments  were  di- 
vinely delivered  which  included  "Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother."  Surely  that  which  Paul 
denounced  as  the  bondage  of  the  law  ought  not 


70  KAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

to  be  the  system  of  ethics  which  God  gave  on 
Siani,  and  which  our  Lord  sanctioned  so  clearly. 
That  which  oppressed  Paul  was — or  ought  to 
have  been — the  accretions  of  tradition.  But 
why  did  not  Paul  denounce  these?  Why  did  he 
not  join  our  Lord  in  His  denouncing  the  tradi- 
tions of  which  the  brutality  of  the  immunity 
from  filial  obligation  in  "Corban"  was  the  na- 
tural result? 

'Paul  was  so  steeped  in  Pharisaical  perver- 
sity that  he  could  not  dissociate  all  that  was  ethi- 
cal and  humane  in  the  law  as  divinely  given,  from 
the  perversions  which  had  been  made  by  those 
whose  works  of  the  law  had  been  instituted 
solely  to  foster  their  pride  of  exclusiveness  and 
to  display  their  supercilious  sense  of  spiritual 
superiority. 

'Hence  his  figure  was  poetical — and  only  that ; 
in  no  sense  an  apt  illustration. 

'But  if  you  insist  on  taking  Paul  seriously 
in  his  reasoning  from  those  premises,  I  must 
ask  you  to  regard  first  its  inconsistency,  and 
secondly  its  consequences. 

'The  reasoning  is  illogical,  for  to  Isaac's  pos- 
terity— the  descendants  of  the  freewoman — was 
given  the  law  that  was  to  put  them — not  the 
children  of  Ishmael — in  bondage.  The  latter 
were  to  be  free  from  the  condemnation  of  sin, 
because  Paul  had  established — to  his  own  satis- 


NAZARET,H   OR    TARSUS f  71 

faction  at  least — that  only  by  the  knowledge  of 
the  law  could  sin  be  imputed. 

'But  I  have  dwelt  so  much  on  Paul's  inabil- 
ity to  reason  logically  that  I  will  not  continue 
this  topic,  but  pass  to  the  consideration  of  that 
which  is  of  far  graver  moment  than  were  his 
futile  attempts  at  logical  demonstration ;  namely, 
the  consequences  of  his  misdirected  reasoning. 

'Already  I  have  called  your  attention  to  Paul's 
habit  of  introspection,  and  to  his  consequent 
viewing  through  the  refracting  media  of  his  own 
convictions  the  presumed  motives  and  methods 
of  reasoning  of  those  to  whom  he  appealed. 

'Unfortunately  for  Paul's  thesis  of  bondage 
under  the  law,  and  of  glorious  freedom  under  the 
gospel,  the  consequence  was  drawn  by  the  Greek 
and  Grecized  converts  that  the  immunity  from 
temptations — to  which  the  law  alone  had  given 
rise  and  poAver,  and  had  made  sinful  the  yield- 
ing to — had  been  so  established  by  dying  to  the 
law,  and  being  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus, 
that  sense  could  no  longer  wield  a  seductive 
power.' 

*  "The  shock  to  Paul  when  he  learned  of  the 
dreadful  immoralities  practiced  in  his  cherished 
church  at  Corinth  must  have  been  a  terrible  one. 
Thenceforth  it  ought  to  have  been  clear  to  him, 
as  probably  it  was  to  unimpassioned  on-lookers, 
*  J.  Warschauer  in  "New  World." 


73  NAZARETH    OR    TARDUS? 

that  faith  conferred  no  immunity  from  vices  of 
the  gTOSsest  description;  nay,  more,  that  the 
fatal  doctrine  of  the  abrogation  of  the  moral 
law  was  bound  to  lead  to  the  most  sinister  conse- 
quences, and  would  actually  be  taken  as  an  en- 
couragement to  every  kind  of  license.  In  vain 
the  apostle  Svrithed  and  twisted'  to  escape  the 
difficulty  he  had  himself  created;  in  vain  did 
he  reason  that  faith,  emancipation  from  the  law, 
not  only  produced,  but  h(/.s,  a  state  of  emancipa- 
tion from  sin,  and  that  they  in  whose  members 
sin  still  bore  dominion  had  not  real  faith.  Who 
was  to  gainsay  the  fervid  self-assurance  of  any 
one  who  chose  to  protest  his  faith,  together  with 
his  conviction  that  he  was  superior  to  the  restric- 
tions of  the  law?  Had  not  Paul  himself  plainly 
hinted  that  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no 
law  (Rom.  v.  13),  and  that  he  himself  'had  not 
known  sin,  except  through  the  law'  (Rom.  vii. 
7)?  He  might  lay  down,  as  indeed  he  did,  the 
most  explicit  ethical  injunctions,  commending 
a  godly,  righteous  and  sober  life;  but  what 
more  natural  than  that  his  liearers  preferred  the 
part  of  his  teaching  which  deprecated  righteous- 
ness by  works  and  described  the  law  as  the 
strength  of  sin? 

"The  Corinthian  scandals  were  only  the  fitting 
prelude  to  a  series  of  phenomena  which,  through 
the  whole  history  of  Christianity,  never  failed 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  73 

to  manifest  themselves  where  the  Pauline  doc- 
trine obtained  a  serious  hold.  *'A  hideous  shad- 
ow of  antinomianism  has  dogged  it  throughout 
all  time.  It  was  manifest  in  the  immoral  sects 
of  the  apostolic  period;  ...  it  lingered  on 
through  the  Middle  Ages;  it  burst  into  febrile 
heat  at  the  Reformation  among  the  Anabaptists 
of  Munster,  and  the  Adamites  and  other  obscene 
sects,  and  all  these  appealed  to  the  argument  of 
Paul  and  away  from  his  injunctions.^  In  the 
canon  itself  we  are  told  of  some  who  wrested  the 
teachings  of  Paul  'to  their  own  destruction'  (II. 
Pet.  iii.  16)  ;  of  some  who  turned  'the  grace  of 
God  into  lasciviousness'  ( Jude  4)  ;  of  a  proph- 
etess who  taught  believers  'to  commit  fornica- 
tion and  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols'  (Rev. 
ii.  20).' 

"Must  we  not  read  these  passages  in  the  light 
of  Paul's  own  sorrowful  admission  (I.  Cor.  v. 
1),  that  there  reigned  in  that  church  such  im- 
morality as  was  not  even  among  the  Gentiles. 
The  charges  of  shameless  debauchery  constantly 
made  against  the  early  church — and  occasion- 
ally admitted  by  writers  like  pseudo-Clement, 
Tertullian,  and  Iren?eus — all  point  equally  to 
the  widespread  mischief  wrought  by  the  doc- 
trine of  justification  by  faith;  and  well  might 
the  writer  whom  we  have  been  quoting  observe: 

*  Baring-Gould,  "Study  of  St.  Paul." 


74  'NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

^The  church  trembled  on  the  verge  of  becoming 
an  immoral  sect.  It  was  high  time  that  the  <jos- 
j)eh  should  appear,  and  show  that  Christ  had 
given  His  sanction  to  the  moral  law;  nay,  had 
extended  its  application.'  " 

'Yet  all  the  more  willingly/  the  Man  added, 
'I  pay  heartfelt  tribute  to  Paul's  attempts  to 
free  himself  from  these  sad  complications. 
"Paul's  faith  that  worketh  through  love"  is  the 
perfect  definition  of  exalted  Christian  character. 
Still,  if  his  dying  with  Christ  to  the  law  of  the 
fiesh,  to  live  with  Christ  to  the  law  of  the  mind, 
is  regarded  as  other  than  poetical— is  taken  liter- 
ally, and  not  as  dying  to  sin  in  absorbing  love  to 
Christ — we  make  Him  anthropomorphic,  and  lay 
the  foundation  for  misconceptions.  For  it  is 
impossible  to  accept  Paul's  thesis  of  divinity 
dying  to  sin.' 

'Then  you  practically  deny  that  Paul  was 
divinely  called  to  apostleship,'  the  clergyman 
said. 

'Not  quite  so  strongly  as  that;  for  the  evi- 
dence is  only  negative.  "Not  proven,"  I  would 
say,  since  the  evidence  is  not  consistent  with  it- 
self in  its  various  and  differing  repetitions. 
Especially  questionable  is  his  last  account  of 
it;  for  tliere  he  attributes  to  our  Lord  language 
and  metliods  of  thougl)t  which  are  so  unmistak- 
ably Pauline  that  they  establish  a  profound  dis- 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  75 

trust  of  the  accuracy  of  this  account ;  moreover, 
it  is  unlike  the  previous  accounts — and  these  do 
not  agree  with  each  other. 

'Again :  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  wordsjfof 
our  Lord ;  inconsistent  too  with  the  tenor  of  His 
life — if  I  rightly  understand  them — that  He 
should  have  chosen  such  a  man  as  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus to  be  the  chief  apostle. 

'To  me  there  is  nothing  more  pathetically  ap- 
pealing in  His  history  than  His  washing  of  the 
disciples'  feet;  and  also  His  appeal  not  to  put 
the  new  wine  of  His  revelations  of  divine  love 
into  the  old  wine  skins  of  rabbinical  theology. 
He  doubtless  foresaw  that  pride  of  power  and 
intellectual  vanity  would  be  the  rocks  on  which 
his  church  would  be  wrecked. 

'Powerless  to  avert  this  He  doubtless  saw  He 
v/ould  be ;  opposed,  as  he  recognized  that  he  was, 
by  the  malign  influence  of  him  whose  "kingdom 
is  ...  of  this  world";  Avhile  His  calm  en- 
durance of  that  humiliating  powerlessness  can- 
not but  inspire  a  loftier  regard  for  the  loveliness 
of  the  divine  motive  that  accepted  this  added 
humiliation. 

'But  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  foremost  in  this  con- 
fining of  the  new  Christ  wine  in  the  old  Hebrew 
theological  wine  skins.  And  they  burst,  as  the 
Lord  foretold :  and  all  through  the  pages  of  the 


76  'NAZARETH    OR    TARDUS? 

history  of  the  church  tlie  splashes  fell.  There 
they  have  left  their  red  stains:  and  we  call  one 
"St.  Bartholomew's  night,"  one  "the  reign  of 
Bloody  Mary,"  and  so  on.' 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf  77 


VIII. 

^BuT  in  making  this  charge  you  forget  how 
zealous  St.  Paul  was  that  the  Law,  at  once  and 
with  no  reservation,  should  be  superseded  by  the 
faith  in  Christ.  He  was  insistent  that  the  Law 
had  been  tried  and  had  been  found  powerless  to 
establish  a  true  religious  life,'  the  clergyman 
interposed. 

'No,  I  do  not  forget,  but  here  again  I  appeal 
for  faith  in  a  consistent  Christ,  as  against  credu- 
lity in  an  impetuous  and  inconsistent  Paul. 
Where  has  our  Lord  left  any  evidence  that  He 
wished  that  the  Mosaic  law  should  beiibruptly 
abrogated?  Almost  His  last  act  before  His 
death  was  the  observance  of  the  Passover.  And 
although  it  was  instituted  as  a  type  of  Himself,  it 
would  have  been  natural  that  He  should  have 
wholly  substituted  for  it  the  Last  Supper — if  He 
had  desired  that  at  once  the  law  should  be  made 
a  nullity. 

'But  we  have  the  direct  testimony  of  our 
Lord:  "The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in 
Moses'  seat :  all  things  whatsoever  they  bid  you 


78  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS f 

these  do  and  observe" ;  and  you  knov»'  that  this  is 
by  no  means  the  only  positive  utterance  of  our 
Lord  which  Paul  acted  contrary  to  Avhen  he 
made  such  violent  attacks  on  the  law.  The  para- 
ble of  the  tares  and  the  wheat — the  danger  of 
violently  uprooting  the  tares — would  seem  to  re- 
fer to  the  peril  of  making  attacks  on  the  law; 
if  Ave  construe  "the  tares"  to  mean  the  unauthor- 
ized accretions  of  tradition. 

'But  to  go  back  to  the  figure  of  the  wine  skins 
of  Hebrew  theology ;  into  which  Paul  proposed  to 
force  the  untheological  message  of  our  Lord. 

'Why  does  the  Church  pretend  to  be  blind,  for 
really  blind  it  cannot  be,  to  the  coarse  material- 
ism of  the  rabbinical  theology  which  possessed 
Paul  and  which  he  has  infused  into  the  Christian 
faith? 

'Rabbinical  theology  had  lost,  if  it  ever  really 
possessed,  a  real  knowledge  of  the  essential  spirit 
of  sacrifice.  The  giving  up  of  the  best  that  we 
possess ;  the  rendering  back  to  God  of  the  life  that 
vivified  it,  in  token  of  our  recognition  that  all  we 
have  is  from  His  hand:  this  true  inward  dedica- 
tion Paul  could  not  comprehend ;  and  so  he  could 
only  teach  an  asserted  potency  in  the  material 
sacrifice;  in  the  actual  shedding  of  blood.  That 
this  erroneous  sacrificinl  spii'it  possessed  him, 
that  there  was  no  recognition  by  Paul  of  the  spir- 
itual devotion  of  a  true  sacrificial  motive,  are  evi- 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  79 

denced  by  his  making  no  allusion  to  that  most 
beautiful  and  impressive  instance  of  absorbing 
self-renunciation  that  the  Old  Testament  records. 

'But  in  Abraham's  sacrifice  of  his  only  son 
there  was  none  of  that  actual  outpouring  of  blood 
which  Paul  demanded  in  the  idea  of  completed 
sacrifice,  Paul's  silence  in  this  is  all  the  more 
startling,  when  we  recall  that  the  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  refers  to  it. 

'Nor  could  Paul  recognize  the  spiritual  figure 
of  that  other  impressive  form  of  sacrifice,  in 
which  the  scapegoat  was  driven  out  into  the  wil- 
derness :  a  type  so  suggestive  of  our  Lord's  being 
driven  out  into  the  wilderness  to  combat  with  the 
power  of  darkness,  that  we  can  well  believe  it  was 
thus  foreshadowed.  His  omission  of  reference  to 
the  smiting  of  the  rock  in  the  wilderness  is  also 
suggestive.  Here  were  symbols  so  striking,  so 
full  of  poetical  analogy  that,  it  would  seem  as  if 
Paul's  highly  poetical  spirit  could  not  fail  to  rec- 
ognize the  beauty  and  appropriateness  of  the 
similitudes. 

'Yet  if  one  is  a  careful  student  of  Paul  he  can- 
not fail  to  find  in  Paul's  blood  blindness  to  any 
sacrifice  which  was  not  material,  the  reason  of  his 
blindness  to  the  impressive  appositeness  of 
these  types.  That  in  sacrifice  tliere  appealed  to 
Paul  only  wiiat  the  "outward  man"  could  recog- 
nize ought  to  be  almost  conclusive  evidence  that 


80  NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS? 

his  inspiration  existed  only  in  his  own  imagina- 
tion. 

'It  is  Paul's  coarse  view  of  sacrifice  which  has 
degraded  the  theology  of  the  chiircli ;  tliat  has 
doubtless  laid  the  foundation  of  much  of  its  ter- 
rible cruelties,  through  its  imputing  to  the 
Father  a  satisfaction  in  the  shedding  of  the  blood 
of  his  divine  Son.' 

'But  St.  Paul  recognizes  the  need,  the  trans- 
forming power  of  a  true  sacrificial  spirit,  when 
he  exhorts  us  to  present  our  bodies  a  living  sac- 
rifice,' the  clergyman  suggested. 

'I  admit  that  he  presents  this  most  beautifully 
and  appealinglj^ — as  a  preacher.  But  as  a  theo- 
logian, as  a  teacher  of  the  relations  of  the  divine 
to  the  human,  he  is  not  able  to  comprehend  a 
true  sacrificial  spirit,  because  he  possesses  no  de- 
gree of  inspiration  to  incite  him  to  rise  above  his 
rabbinical  education. 

'Do  not  think  me  insensible  to  the  beauty  and 
sincerity  of  Paul's  appeals  for  Cliristlikenoss, 
for  self-consecration,  for  identification  with 
Christ  through  dying  with  Him.  Let  me  forget 
his  intrusive  personality,  and  no  one  more  tliau 
I  will  praise  the  lofty  sentiments  that  lu'  gave 
expression  to  in  his  best  moments. 

'You  will  comprehend  mo  when  T  charncterize 
St.  Paul  as  intensely  fond  of  color.    In  his  bi'il- 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  81 

liant  thought  painting  he  was  an  impressionist. 
His  artistic  sense  was  so  dominating  that  it  im- 
pelled him  to  vivify  his  theme  through  every 
tint  that  he  could  employ.  He  delighted  in  the 
varying  shades  that  each  color  afforded.  A  strik- 
ing illustration  of  this  we  find  at  the  close  of  the 
first  chapter  of  Romans;  the  latter  part  of  the 
fifth  chapter  of  Galatians  is  yet  another.  Yet 
his  artistic  taste  was  so  pure  that  his  brilliancy 
never  approached  bizarre  effects.  But  to  expect 
accurate  drawing,  a  true  sense  of  proportion,  cor- 
rect perspective,  would  be  unnatural:  and  most 
of  all  would  we  be  disappointed  if  we  looked  for 
historical  accuracy. 

'For  he  who  would  enter  into  judgment  on 
St.  Paul,  and  yet  cannot  enter  into  St.  Paul's 
artistic  heart  and  view  his  glowing  pictures 
from  that  coign  of  vantage,  in  earnest  sympathy 
with  his  aesthetic  emotions,  must  do  St.  Paul 
a  grave  injustice;  and — more  gravely  important 
— will  lose  the  rapport  through  which  will  be 
illuminated  for  him  St.  Paul's  limitations. 

'And  yet,  over  against  this  idealizing  imag- 
ination, we  find  its  unexpected  antithesis  in 
the  hard,  unyielding  literalness — the  fruitage 
of  his  rabbinical  education.  While  that  literal- 
ness is  not  the  resultant  of  scientific  analysis, 
but  is  the  product  of  his  intense  introspection, 
yet  it  is  all  the  more  dangerous — and  all  the 


82  VAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

more  tenaciously  held  then  as  now — because  it 
is  a  moss-irrown  error  that  demands  reverence 
for  its  antiquity. 

*It  is  just  here  that  we  find  the  overpowering 
influence  of  his  false  education. 

'In  spite  of  his  true  poetic  instincts,  in  the 
face  of  a  really  earnest  desire  to  reform  his  the- 
ological views  into  the  mold  of  Christ  revela- 
tion, thej  had  ceased  to  be  plastic;  and  so  his 
subsequent  convictions  must  be  bent, — no  matter 
with  what  violence  and  unnaturalness, — to  meet 
the  conformations  of  his  old  rabbinical  theology. 
This  is  strikingly  evident  in  his  treatment  of 
the  Jewish  scriptures,  when  cited  for  the  pur- 
pose of  illustration. 

'We  would  expect  that  his  own  strong  poetic 
instincts  would  recognize  and  intensify  the  po- 
etic idealism  of  their  thought.  Instead  of  that, 
he  invests  them  with  a  cold,  hard  realism  which 
our  judgment  tells  us  is  utterly  foreign  to  the 
true  poetic  sentiment  of  those  who  uttered  them 
in  the  groping  after  truth  in  the  early  dawn. 

'But  to  view  it  scientifically,  why  should  we 
expect  that  anj^  naturalness  would  result  from 
such  a  conversion  as  was  his?  It  saved  the 
church  at  Damascus  from  persecution,  it  filled 
Paul  with  terror :  but  it  appealed  neither  to  his 
intellect  nor  to  his  heart.' 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  83 

The  clergyman  made  no  direct  reply,  but  said : 

'Then  you  regard  St.  Paul  as  adding  nothing 
to  the  power  and  evidences  of  Christianity?' 

'To  the  evidences — most  assuredly.  Even  the 
materialness  of  Paul's  conception  of  the  res- 
urrection of  our  Lord  has  historical  value.  That 
a  man  so  thoroughly  a  Pharisee;  contemptuous 
of  the  chosen  of  our  Lord;  absorbed  in  admira- 
tion of  his  own  intellectuality;  his  thoughts  so 
self-centered  that  they  admitted  nothing  from 
without  unless  irresistibly  forced  upon  his  rec- 
ognition; that  such  a  man  was  compelled  to  ac- 
knovrledge  the  divinity  of  our  Lord  makes  him 
a  most  valuable  witness  to  the  validity  of  the 
claims  of  the  founder  of  Christianity:  a  wit- 
ness all  the  more  convincing  because  his  whole 
mind  and  soul  rebelled  against  surrendering 
to  the  conviction  to  which  he  gave  expression. 

*I  conceive  that  the  constant  struggling  of  this 
revulsion  was  the  cause  of  "what  I  would  not 
that  I  do/'  which  brought  to  him  the  depressing 
feeling  that  his  assertive  individuality  was  dom- 
inated and  that  he  was  only  an  impassive  bat- 
tleground on  which  two  opposing  forces — wholly 
outside  of  himself — were  contending.  It  would 
be  a  charitable  view  of  Paul's  idiosyncrasies, 
and  perhaps  as  just  as  it  is  charitable,  to  con- 
sider his  contradictions — both  those  of  doctrine 
and  of  sentiment — to  be  the  revulsion  of  his  in- 


84  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

dividuality  against  his  powerlessness  to  rid 
himself  from  the  subjugating  influences  of  his 
new  belief.  This  revulsion  doubtless  had  its 
origin  in  the  intellectual  vanity  that  refracted 
all  external  evidence  out  of  its  natural  plane, 
and  so  made  his  thought  morbid. 

^Thus  the  key  to  Paul's  abnormal  mental  con- 
dition may  be  indicated  in  his  humiliating  admis- 
sion that  he  was  possessed  by  uncontrollable  im- 
pulses. His  standard  was  noble,  but  his  im- 
pulses dominated  him,  and  he  was  swayed  by  his 
self-centered  thoughts  which  were  the  results  of 
his  intense  conviction  of  his  own  importance.  In 
Phariseeism  this  conviction  found  congenial 
exercise;  the  passivity  of  self-renunciation  in 
Christ  was  wholly  foreign  to  his  nature. 

'It  was  Christ's  sinlessness  that  found  in  Paul's 
love  of  righteousness  the  interpreter  to  him  of 
Christ's  divinity;  but  no  such  conviction  could 
have  come  to  Paul  through  that  which  was  ex- 
ternal to  himself.  So  his  conversion  was  through 
that  which  was  purely  personal  to  himself. 

'Hence,  too,  the  law  of  sin  in  his  members — 
through  his  intense  self-absorption — made  sin 
seem  universal  to  him ;  and  thus  the  doctrine  of 
original  sin  was  for  him  a  natural  evolution, 

'Again:  while  he  was  ready  to  yiokl  to  super- 
natural influences  that  appealed  primarily  to  his 
own  mind  (Acts  xxi.  4),  he  readily  disregarded 


NAZARETH   OR    TARi:iUi^r  85 

whatever  other  minds  presented  as  revelation. 
He  was  one  of  those  men  who  are  so  convinced 
that  they  are  children  of  destiny,  so  self-assured 
that  they  are  born  to  preponderate  and  to  domi- 
nate, that  tolerance  of  the  opinion  of  others  is 
impossible  to  them. 

'Such  a  mind  cannot  be  consistent  even  with 
itself.  Consequently  the  impulse  of  the  moment 
led  Paul — led  him  to  establish  his  theses  by  half 
truths  and  by  illustrations  that  were  not  even 
consistent  with  his  own  previous  utterances. 

'Paul's  utter  disregard  for  consistency  is 
evidence  of  his  unbalanced  mind.  He  advanced 
the  thesis  of  the  saving  grace  being  extended  to 
only  a  few  elect;  led  up  to  it  through  a  course 
of  false  reasoning,  which  no  clear  intellect  would 
sanction.  But  when  a  different  mood  possesses 
him  he  clearly  states  that,  "whosoever  shall  call 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved,"  and, 
"God  is  the  Savior  of  all  men,  especially  of  those 
that  believe."  It  is  needless  to  point  out  that 
every  shade  of  belief,  from  Calvinism  to  Uni- 
versalism,  can  find  its  vindication  in  such  con- 
tradictory statements  of  doctrine.' 

Here  the  clergyman  suggested  that  every 
great  leader  in  thought,  who  has  commanded 
the  homage  of  men,  has  been  invested  with  a 
strong  personality  which  arrested  attention,  yet 
could  not  have  retained  it  unless  he  was  actu- 


86  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

ated  by  sincere  motive  in  delivering  his  message, 
and  asked : 

'How,  then,  do  you  account  for  the  perma- 
nency of  St.  Paul's  power  if  you  deny  his  in- 
spiration?' 

To  this  the  Man  replied : 

'I  think  that  opportunity  had  much  to  do 
with  this,  for  I  cannot  concede  that  St.  Paul  pos- 
sessed an  attractive  personality — exce])t  so  far 
as  an  assertive  boldness  attracts  a  certain  class 
of  minds.  He  was  fortunate  in  his  historian ; 
fortuitous  circumstances,  doubtless,  contrib- 
uted to  the  preservation  of  Paul's  writings. 

'The  very  boldness  of  Paul's  claims  to 
special  revelations  is  calculated  to  carry  convic- 
tion. His  doctrine  of  sacrificial  atonement ;  the 
defining  of  all  that  made  it  necessary,  all  that 
limits  its  efficacy,  all  that  determines  the  bounds 
of  its  manifestations ;  these  Avere  advanced  with 
such  positive  claiius  that  they  were  divinely  re- 
vealed to  him  that  they  commanded  belief  by 
their  boldness.  Hence  we  must  regard  them  as 
blaspliemous  impositions  or  else  accept  them  as 
the  teachings  of  one  divinely  inspired — regard- 
less of  the  contradictory  terms  in  which  they  are 
expressed.  There  is  no  escape  from  accepting 
one  or  the  other  of  these  conclusions,  except  by 
demonstrating  that  Paul  was  mentally  irre- 
sponsible. 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  87 

'He  had  few  of  the  elements  of  a  noble  char- 
acter. Courage  can  hardly  be  attributed  to  an 
apostle  who  ten  times  fled  from  danger.  Con- 
sistency and  courage  both  were  absent  when,  in 
the  face  of  his  contempt  for  the  law,  he  shifted 
his  principles  in  his  last  visit  to  Jerusalem, 
boasting  that  he  was  a  Pharisee  and  the  son  of  a 
Pharisee,  and  readily  accepting  the  suggestion 
that  he  show  that  "thou  also  walkest  orderly  and 
keepest  the  law."  Thus  princij^le  was  laid  aside 
for  caution — that  was  too  tardy  to  secure  safety. 

'And  while  he  could  rebuke  Peter  unstintedly 
for  showing  consideration  for  the  commands  of 
the  law,  Paul  did  not  hesitate  to  circumcise  Tim- 
othy, that  he  might  win  the  favor  of  Judean 
Christians;  although  he  said  (Gal.  v.  2),  "Be- 
hold I,  Paul,  say  unto  you  that  if  you  receive 
circumcision,  Christ  will  profit  you  nothing." 
and  he  performed  vicarious  vows  to  conciliate 
the  unbelieving  Jews.' 

Here  the  clergyman  interrupted,  saying: 

'Most  strenuously  I  protest  against  your  as- 
sumption that  St.  Peter  was  necessarily  in  the 
right,  and  that  St.  Paul  alone  was  to  blame. 
That  which  you  are  pleased  to  call  St.  Paul's 
egotism  and  self-sufiiciency  was  only  his  nat- 
ural and  just  indignation  because  his  work  had 
been  interfered  with  by  the  Judaizers  with  whom 
Peter  appears  to  have  been  in  sympathy.'     In 


88  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

the  silence  that  followed  this  protest  by  the 
clergyman  he  was  sanguine  that  he  had  gained 
the  advantage. 

At  length,  slowlj^  and  with  an  effort  at  self- 
command,  the  Man  resumed: 

'I  know  that  you  are  conversant  with  all  of 
the  conditions  of  this  incident.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  would  not  wish  to  think  that  you  had  in- 
tentionally suppressed  any  of  the  related  cir- 
cumstances. 

'That  all  of  the  elder  apostles  gave  no  encour- 
agement to  the  Judaizers  at  Antioch  but  rather 
rebuked  them — when  Paul  and  Barnabas  went 
up  to  Jerusalem — is  prima  facie  evidence  that 
PauFs  complaint  was  unjust,  or  that  he  took  an 
exaggerated  view  of  whatever  favor  Peter  may 
have  shown  to  converts  from  Judaism. 

'But  the  crux  of  the  whole  matter — the  cause 
of  inevitable  antagonism  to  Peter — would  seem 
to  be  evidenced  by  Paul's  assertion  that  Peter 
and  Barnabas  did  "not  walk  uprightly  according 
to  the  gospel." 

'Now  we  know  that  Paul  always  meant  by 
"gospel"  that  which  he  called  "my  gospel,"  and 
that  he  was  opposed  to  what  he  called  "another 
gospel."  Surely,  "another  gospel,"  from  tliat 
which  Paul  preached  is  the  gospel  which  is  re- 
vealed by  the  evangelists.  Collision  was  inevi- 
table between  Peter,  who  bore  this  gospel,  and 


NAZARETH   OR  TARSUS.?  89 

Paul,  who  boasted  of  "my  gospel  and  the  preach- 
ing of  Jesus  Christ." 

'Now,  if  it  is  orthodox  to  recognize  that  there 
is  only  one  personage  worthy  of  credence  in  the 
New  Testament,  namely,  Paul,  and  only  one  in 
the  Old  Testament,  Isaiah,  then  you  are  doubt- 
less theologically  correct.  For  Paul's  "my  gos- 
pel" of  purchase  of  divine  favor  and  of  the  ap- 
peasing of  divine  wrath  by  the  sacrificial  death 
of  the  Christ  had  its  first  intimation  in  Isaiah — 
and  not  with  him,  till  the  post-exilian  period. 

'If  Paul  was  right,  then  the  record  of  the 
Evangelists  was  imperfect.  If  Isaiah  was  right, 
we  ought  to  relegate  the  other  prophets  to  an 
obscurity  merited  by  their  ignorance.  And  let 
us  eliminate  all  of  the  joyous  psalms,  whose  de- 
light in  the  law  of  the  Lord  reflected  the  almost 
universal  Hebrew  love  for,  as  well  as  pride  in, 
the  law. 

'It  is  theologically  convenient,  but  it  is  not 
historical,  to  attribute  to  the  whole  Jewish  na- 
tion the  morbid  view  of  the  law  which  Paul  and 
his  sect  possessed;  and  held  with  it,  such  con- 
tempt for  those  who  did  not  share  their  distorted 
views,  that  the  treatment  which  Paul  received 
at  Jerusalem  clearly  indicates  that  his  carica- 
ture of  the  law  was  resented,  and  that  it  also 
made  him  powerless  to  win  any  of  his  nation  to 
believe  in  his  caricature  of  the  true  gospel.  You 


90  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

know  that  Paul  was  not  representative  of  the 
Jewish  nation,  or  of  its  faith.  Representative 
of  those  who  held  censorious  pride  in  the  tradi- 
tional accretions  of  the  law  Paul  was — and  this 
alone.  And  who  knows  but  that  our  Lord  had 
prophetically  in  mind  that  Pharisee  who  guard- 
ed the  garments  of  those  who  slew  His  first  mar- 
tyr, when  he  denounced  the  moral  blindness  of 
that  sect.' 

'With  strange  inconsistency  he  used  the  syna- 
gogues of  Asia,  till  he  was  compelled  to  go  else- 
where, although  he  claimed  precedence  as  an 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 

'I  think  that  we  have  the  key  to  much  that 
otherwise  would  be  obscure  in  the  personality  of 
Paul,  if  we  will  regard  the  many  evidences  of 
how  little  of  affectionate  regard  he  commanded 
(I.  Cor.  xvi.  17).  At  Ephesus  he  did  not  com- 
mand the  affection  of  the  Christian  converts;  at 
least  his  support  there — surely  to  a  great  de- 
gree— came  from  without. 

'He  lays  much  stress  on  his  lack  of  local  sup- 
port, and  he  tries  to  have  this  indifference  to 
himself  regarded  as  an  evidence  of  his  devotion 
to  duty.  But  is  it  not  more  natural  to  regard 
it  as  evidence  that  he  could  not  command  the 
affectionate  regard  of  the  converts? 

'Not  till  after  Titus  had  done  his  own  mis- 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  91 

sionary  work  in  Corinth  was  Paul  hospitably  re- 
ceived (II.  Cor.  vii.  7).  Then,  on  his  third  visit, 
he  was  able  to  command  a  hospitable  welcome, 
following  Titus'  preaching.  And  he  emphasizes 
this  when  he  says :  "This  thou  knowest  ( II.  Tim. 
i.  15),  that  all  that  are  in  Asia  turned  away  from 
me,"  and  (iv.  16  and  10),  "At  my  first  defence  no 
one  took  my  part ;  but  all  forsook  me."  "For  De- 
mas  hath  forsaken  me  and  Crescens  and  Titus; 
only  Luke  is  with  me."  And  he  asks  for  Mark, 
"for  he  is  profitable  unto  me."  His  self-centered 
thought  is  shown  in  his  phrasing  of  this  last  sen- 
tence. 

^His  inability  to  attach  to  himself  faithful  as- 
sistants is  further  shown  in  Phil.  ii.  21:  that 
excepting  Timotheus  and  Epaphroditus  "all  seek 
their  own,  not  the  things  which  are  Jesus 
Christ's."  And  Epaphroditus  was  "nigh  unto 
death,"  "to  supply  your  lack  of  service  unto  me" ; 
yet  he  writes  (Phil.  iv.  18)  of  having  received  at 
the  hands  of  Epaphroditus  the  gifts  of  the  Phil- 
ippians  which  were  "a  sacrifice,  acceptable,  well 
pleasing  to  God"  (Phil.  iv.  10),  but  received  after 
much  delay,  and  no  other  church  (Phil.  iv.  15) 
had  given  to  him  "in  the  beginning  of  the  gos- 
pel." 

*  "The  success  and  steadfastness  of  the  Tlies- 
salonian  church  came  with  the  preaching  of 
Timothy,"  whom  Paul  had  sent  when  he  was 


93  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

"Satan  hindered" — a  term  that  his  intense  con- 
viction of  his  own  importance  prompts  him  to  use 
repeatedly. 

'We  would  have  a  right  to  expect  that  the 
scholarly  acquirements  which  are  claimed  for 
St.  Paul  would  have  wrought  some  permanent 
results  at  Athens.  Later,  when  a  true  scholar- 
ship had  added  its  philosophical  appeals,  the 
Greek  mind  elsewhere  was  attracted  to  Chris- 
tianity. But  PauFs  scholasticism  could  not 
arouse  their  interest. 

'If  Paul  had  been  divinelj'  inspired  he  would 
not  have  held  such  erroneous  views  of  the  near- 
ness of  the  Parousia,  as  shown  in  1st  Thessa- 
lonians;  and  which  he,  or  some  wiser  writer,  had 
to  correct  in  the  next  epistle. 

'As  poetical — only  imaginative,  in  no  way  in- 
spired— can  we  regard  Paul's  description  of  the 
second  coming  of  our  Lord,  so  variously  are  de- 
scribed the  conditions  attending  that  event. 
So,  too,  after  the  Advent.  The  statement,  "in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive,"  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  "eternal  destruction  from  the  face 
of  the  Lord."  And  while  in  places  it  is  taught 
that  the  destruction  will  be  immediate,  it  is  else- 
where taught  by  him  thnt  our  Lord  will  reign 
as  the  longed-for  Jewish  ^Messiah;  and  during 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  93 

this  reign  he  would  "put  all  enemies  under  his 
feet." 

'His  claim  to  be  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  is 
in  opposition  to  St.  Peter's  statement  (Acts  xv. 
7),  that  "a  good  while  ago  God  made  choice 
among  us  that  the  Gentiles  hj  my  mouth,"  etc., 
and  St.  Peter's  evidently  extended  journeyings 
would  seem  to  sustain  his  claim.' 

Then  earnestly  the  clergyman  urged  in  St. 
Peter's  behalf: 

'It  occurs  to  me  that  3'ou  wilfully  ignore  the 
noble  characteristics  of  St.  Paul.  Was  he  not 
heroic?  Read  the  record  of  his  labors  and  his 
sufferings.  He  had  nothing  to  gain,  but  every- 
thing to  lose,  by  his  devotion  to  Christ.  Noth- 
ing but  a  firm  faith  in  the  truth  he  proclaimed 
and  an  intense  love  for  its  founder  could  have 
inspired  and  sustained  him.  Is  not  this  deserv- 
ing of  honor?  A  man  who  for  love  of  country  en- 
dures hardship,  suffers  loss,  and  if  needful  sheds 
his  blood-  on  tlie  battle  field,  would  be  by  you 
deemed  worthy  of  all  admiration.  Why  with- 
hold it  from  Paul,  who,  whether  mistaken  or 
otherwise,  did  choose  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all 
things  for  Christ.' 

And  the  Man  replied: 

'I  fail  to  see  where  your  appeal  can  have  much 
force.  As  I  have  previously  observed,  his  fre- 
quent avoiding  of  danger — so  strikingly  in  con- 


94  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

trast  to  the  true  courage  shown  by  the  apostles 
— and  his  pusillanimity  at  Jerusalem,  are  v.hat 
we  have  a  right  to  expect  from  a  man  who 
through  fear  was  impressed  with  the  power  of  the 
Christ  whom  he  was  persecuting.  But  we  have 
wandered  away  from  our  subject,  for  we  are  not 
discussing  the  impulses  of  a  zealot,  but  the  claim 
of  Paul  that  he  was  the  medium  of  those  special 
revelations  which  have  led  the  church  to  formu- 
late its  doctrines  on  the  supposed  sanctity  of  his 
statements. 

'But  before  we  leave  the  subject  of  the  per- 
sonality of  Paul,  let  me  advance  a  related  prop- 
osition. 

'No  religious  leader  can  be  thoroughly  com- 
prehended— at  least  his  doctrines  and  his  mo- 
tives justly  considered — till  he  reappears,  di- 
vested of  his  own  personality,  in  the  persons 
of  his  disciples. 

'In  such  relation  Luke*  stood  to  his  master, 
Paul.  He  reveals  unconsciously,  and  so  all  the 
more  indisputably,  PauTs  intense  egotism. 

"The  very  opening  of  his  gospel  displays  this. 
The  vanity  of  his  master  is  shown  in  a  like  fond- 
ness for  long  and  sonorous  words." 

'Luke's  adopting  of  Paul's  inaccuracy  is  shown 


*  Modern  scholarship  is  not  here  ip^nored.  Luke  is  used  for 
brevity,  in  place  of  repetitions  of  "  the  writer  of  the  third  gos- 
pel, who  appears  to  have  been  a  disciple  of  St.  Paul." 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  95 

in  the  parable  of  the  unjust  steward;  the  unjust 
judge;  the  friend  persuaded  by  importunity;  and 
in  attributing  to  our  Lord,  "If  any  man  hate 
not  father,"  etc.  We  cannot  believe  that  our 
Lord  ever  expressed  such  sentiments. 

'Luke's  Pauline  contempt  for  the  apostles  is 
shown  in  his  attributing  to  our  Lord  the  calling 
of  his  apostles  "unprofitable  servants,"  who  "have 
done  that  which  was  your  duty  to  do."  We  can- 
not conceive  that  our  Lord  used  such  language, 
unless  we  eliminate  much  of  St.  John's  gospel. 

'So,  too,  the  affectionate  solicitude  for  the 
twelve,  on  their  return — as  given  by  Mark — 
Luke  associates  with  the  departure  and  the  re- 
turn of  the  seventy. 

'His  omission  of  other  evidences,  given  by 
Matthew  and  Mark,  of  the  affection  of  our  Lord 
for  the  twelve,  are  additional  testimony  to  his 
inheritance  of  Paul's  antagonism  to  the  twelve. 

'We  cannot  believe  Luke's  statement  that  on 
the  very  day  of  His  resurrection,  our  Lord  ap- 
plied the  epithet  "O,  fools"  to  the  disciples  with 
whom  he  walked  and  talked — even  if  we  soften 
the  term  in  translation.  The  time  was  too  solemn 
for  such  impatience,  even  if  no  contempt  was 
implied. 

'(Luke  xxiii.  24-27.)  It  is  not  probable  that 
a  dispute  in  regard  to  superiority — evidently  of 
superiority  after  our  Lord  should  be  taken  away 


96  NAZARETH   OR    TARSViJ? 

— was  indulged  in  by  the  twelve  during  the  Last 
Supper.  "All  of  his  account  of  the  Last  Supper 
is  meager  and  disjointed,  and  some  things  im- 
probable— as  the  command  to  buy  swords." 

'The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  is  unsatis- 
fying, as  Luke  records  it.  Beneath  that  triad  of 
the  insensate  lost  silver;  of  the  low  intelligence 
of  the  wandering  sheep,  for  both  of  which  there 
was  eager  solicitude,  though  no  responsive  love 
or  effort  to  return  was  disi^layed  by  them;  and 
the  highest  intelligence  of  the  son,  whose  full 
knowledge  of  wrongdoing  must  prompt  the  peni- 
tential return,  if  forgiveness  was  to  be  extended ; 
beneath  this  triad  there  was  a  deep  spiritual 
truth,  probably  that  divine  love  and  justice  re- 
gard opportunity.  But  Luke  had  not  the  spir- 
itual insight  to  perceive  the  truth  which  our 
Lord  was  illustrating,  or  he  would  not  have  ended 
the  parable  as  he  did. 

'In  marked  contrast  to  this  looseness  of  ex- 
pression, which  often  approaches  indifference 
in  Luke's  writings,  is  the  absorbing  reverence 
Avhich  the  fourth  gospel  displays. 

'Its  careful  details  of  the  inmost  thoughts 
of  our  Lord — so  far  as  the  human  mind  can  com- 
prehend the  divine — makes  most  significant  the 
omission  of  all  reforonce  to  the  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment.   "And  while  the  synoptists  explain  the  sac- 


NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS?  97 

rifice  of  our  Lord  as  the  giving  of  His  life  as 
a  ransom  for  many,  the  fourth  gospel  presents 
only  the  metaphor  of  the  Good  Shepherd  giving 
His  life  for  His  sheep,  and  attempts  no  solution 
of  the  mystery," 

'  "The  intense  spirituality  of  the  fourth  gospel," 
"the  whole  Gospel  breathing  a  supernatural  at- 
mosphere," "its  instinctive  perception  of  sym- 
metry in  thought  and  expression,"  the  tender- 
ness with  which  it  displays  the  love  of  our  Lord, 
these  do  not  become  any  less  attractive  to  us 
through  doubts  of  its  authorship.  It  not  only 
tells  us  of  Christ,  it  is  Christ.  And  if  its  elevated 
spirituality  was  attained  by  one  who  had  not 
actually  known  our  Lord,  had  never  been  in- 
fluenced by  His  divine  personality,  it  is  all  the 
more  a  tribute  to  His  divinity;  all  the  more  an 
evidence  of  His  absorbing  love  to  mankind  that 
such  rapt  devotion,  such  living  in  Christ,  could 
be  possessed  hj  one  who  never  had  witnessed 
personally  the  divine  charm  of  that  intense  blend- 
ing of  the  human  and  the  heaven-born  love  which 
filled  the  soul  of  the  author  of  the  fourth  gospel, 
as  it  has  vivified  no  other  human  heart  before  or 
since. 

'In  the  message  of  that  gospel  I  place  my  hope 
of  heaven. 

'It  is  a  noble  casket  in  which  are  displayed 


98  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

the  words  which  are  radiant  above  all  others 
with  the  love  of  our  Lord.  "I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you  .  .  .  that  where  I  am  je  may 
be  also," 

'Before  these  words  I  stand  appalled.  I  can 
express  it  in  no  other  way. 

'Eternity  of  loving  prevision ;  eternity  of  shar- 
ing a  beatitude  that  can  satisfy  divinity.  Had 
He  come  on  earth  and  delivered  only  this  mes- 
sage, it  would  have  sufficed  for  the  perfect  rev- 
elation of  a  love  that  passes  human  comprehen- 
sion. 

'I  would  not  minimize  the  faith  that  the 
Church  reposes  on  Calvary.  Yet  most  emphati- 
cally I  would  refuse  to  follow  the  church's  ex- 
ample in  its  ignoring  of  the  plain  doctrinal  teach- 
ings of  the  Spirit,  when  it  led  our  Lord  out  to  the 
temptations  of  tha  wilderness. 

'Some  time  the  church  will  have  the  courage 
to  accept  those  teachings  of  the  Spirit — which 
our  Lord  repeatedly  and  so  plainly  emphasized 
— and  will  relegate  the  poet  Paul,  to  his  own 
sphere  of  brilliant  irresponsibility,' 

Confidently  the  clergyman  demanded : 
^Surely  you  will  not  deny  that  the  wonder- 
ful vision  of  another  world  that  was  granted  to 
St.  Paul  was  evidence  of  the  divine  favor,  such 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  99 

evidence  as  was  granted  to  no  other  apostle,  and 
that  it  entitles  him  to  reverence.  More  than 
that,  it  was  confirmation  of  apostleship  so  con- 
vincing that  it  places  his  divine  calling  beyond 
question.' 

^Granted  to  no  other  apostle,'  the  Man  re- 
plied; 'I  admit  that.  I  could  almost  say  that  I 
rejoice — for  their  sakes — that  it  Avas  not  given 
to  others.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  think  you  to 
be  so  ignorant  of  the  history  of  monasticism  that 
you  do  not  know  how  constantly  those  zealots 
— underfed  with  bread  and  ideas — were  seeing 
and  hearing  "unspeakable  things,"  which  they 
promptly  showed  to  be  exceedingly  utterable  in 
the  eagerness  with  which  they  published  the — 
believed — evidences  of  the  divine  favor  shown  to 
them.  Mohammed,  equally  with  Paul,  was 
favored  with  visions. 

'But  I  am  very  glad  that  you  introduced  this 
event,  for  I  frankly  admit  that  I  have  not  had 
the  time  to  study  it  as  I  would  wish  to  do,  and 
most  earnestly  I  beseech  you  to  supplement  my 
imperfect  knowledge;  I  will  be  a  most  atten- 
tive scholar. 

'It  is  evident  that  in  its  introduction  the 
author  of  the  fourth  gospel  w^as  rebuking  a  nas- 
cent spirit  of  Gnosticism.  The  modern  Martin- 
ist  system  is  the  offspring  of  that  Gnosticism 


100  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

and  it  teaches  that  "the  Being  of  Beings,  who  is 
the  supreme  First  Cause,  is  manifested  only  by 
his  Word,  through  whom  everything  was  made," 
yet  "Satan  is  the  rebellious  spirit  Avhose  lust  for 
personal  independence  brought  about  his  sepa- 
ration from  God."  Now,  we  can  follow  him  thus 
far;  but  when  the  Martinist  adds  the  claim  that 
Satan  corresponds  to  the  Word  of  God,  the  cre- 
ating thought  of  God,  we  must  diverge — even 
though  our  Lord  so  plainly  admits  Satan's  claim 
to  power  in  this  world;  and  further,  by  His 
silence,  seemed  to  acquiesce  to  this  claim,  when 
Satan  offered  to  confer  on  Him  that  power,  if 
He  would  worship  him. 

'Now  these  Martinist  views  include  much  that 
was  taught  in  the  apocalyptic  literature  which, 
in  the  last  centuries  before  Christ,  passed  under 
the  name  of  Enoch;  for  Enoch  refers  to  angels 
being  cast  down  from  the  fifth  heaven  to  the  sec- 
ond heaven. 

'It  is  most  significant  that  in  Paul's  descrip- 
tion of  his  vision  he  claims  to  have  entered  the 
third  heaven.  So,  too,  Paul  speaks  of  Christ's 
reconciling  to  himself  "the  things  which  are  in 
heaven"  (Col.  i.  20).  It  does  not  necessarily 
follow  that  Paul  was  imbued  with  the  beliefs  of 
the  Gnostics,  the  theories  of  the  secrets  of  Enoch, 
or  that  he  was  in  sympathy  with  those  early  her- 


NAZARETH   OB   TARSUS f  101 

esies  which  have  their  modern  expression  in  the 
modern  Martinist  system.  Yet  it  behooves  his 
defenders  to  present  some  reasonable  theory  for 
his  evident  belief  in  conditions  which  were  essen- 
tial elements  in  these  systems;  and  which  have 
no  warrant  in  the  teachings  of  our  Lord.  So  we 
have  a  right  to  ask,  Why  did  Paul  assert  the 
plurality  of  heavens,  and  that  in  them — at  least 
in  one  of  them — were  spirits  that  needed  to  be 
reconciled  to  Christ?  It  is  not  proven  by  these 
instances  that  Paul  accepted  Plato's  and  Pin- 
dar's beliefs  in  the  fall  of  man's  soul  from  the 
Deity,  or  that  the  secrets  of  Enoch  colored  his 
imagination.  Yet  it  presents  a  reasonable  basis 
on  which  to  begin  investigation  of  his  erratic 
theological  views.' 

To  this  inquiry  the  clergyman  replied  that  he 
was  not  convinced  that  the  chain  of  reasoning 
was  continuous,  and  that  he  Avould  give  it  further 
thought,  adding: 

'Do  you  wish  it  to  be  understood  that  you  re- 
gard as  mentally  incompetent  or  intellectually 
dishonest  all  who  hold  St.  Paul  to  be  an  inspired 
man,  and  his  teachings  as  worthy  of  accept- 
ance?' 

And  the  Man  replied: 

'I  disclaim  any  such  discourteous  intent. 
But  I  do  claim  that  they  are  not  so  courageous 
as  the  issues  at  stake  demand.     It  is  a  charac- 


log  l^'AZ ARETE   OR   TARSUS f 

teristic  of  fear  that  it  eliminates  other  motives. 
And  worse  than  that,  it  persuades  its  captives  to 
dignify  it  with  all  sorts  of  Latin  derivatives, 
which  represent  recognized  virtues.  You  theo- 
logians do  not  dare  to  trust  the  divinely  im- 
planted impulses  that  create  the  soul's  need  to 
acquire  divine  truth.  It  flatters  your  sense  of 
self-importance  to  indicate  that  the  only  path 
which  leads  to  divine  truth  passes  over  the  arti- 
ficial way  which  you  have  elaborated;  and  that 
this  way  is  a  trestle  work;  and  you  fear  that  if 
from  this  there  be  taken  one  brace  or  chord  or 
sill,  your  complex  structure  will  collapse,  and 
the  chasm  between  man  and  divine  truth  will 
never  be  bridged  again. 

'But  there  is  no  chasm — only  the  phantasm 
of  one,  which  you  have  created. 

'And  when  science  comes  and  points  out  that 
this  beam  or  that  string  piece  is  decayed  or  cross- 
grained,  and  can  support  no  weight  and  is  weak- 
ening the  structure,  you  shut  your  ears  to  its 
warning,  just  as  you  disregard  the  multitude  of 
thoughtful  men  who  know  that  science  speaks 
truly;  and  these  3'ou  are  turning  back,  just  as 
you  would  have  turned  me  back  if  my  profession 
had  not  taught  me  to  think  for  myself;  had  not 
my  great  need  impelled  me  to  seek  the  truth  in 
the  face  of  your  discouragement. 

'Shutting  your  eyes,  too,  to  that  lesson  which 


NAZARETH  OR  TARSUSf  IQJJ 

history  has  continued  to  teach — from  Amos  down 
to  St.  Francis  d'Assisi,  and  from  him  to  Wesley 
— that  out  from  the  people  God  must  send  the 
prophet  to  rebuke  the  priest,  and  to  teach  him  his 
tendency  to  error  or  to  apathy. 

'Will  3  ou  never  learn  to  look  within  your  own 
hearts;  that  you  may  recognize  the  dangers  that 
lie  in  the  entrenched  solitude  of  your  studies? 

'From  all  sides — even  from  sects  most  tena- 
cious of  the  Pauline  doctrine — there  comes  the 
plaint  that  clergy  and  laity  are  denying  those 
fundamental  truths  of  Christian  doctrines:  the 
faith  in  the  immaculate  conception  of  our  Lord, 
and  in  His  resurrection.  You  and  I  know  that 
such  denial  is  unscientific,  since  the  ability'  to 
make  such  denial  implies,  at  the  outset,  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  biology.  Moreover,  only  he  may  make 
such  denial  who  carries  in  his  brain  the  dyna- 
mometric  power  which  enables  him  to  measure 
the  Divine  creative  dynamics  and  to  ascertain 
their  utmost  power;  and  next,  by  a  course  of 
reasoning  which  is  incomprehensible  to  the  or- 
dinary mind — and  only  reasoning,  since  actual 
test  of  that  degree  of  power  is  apparently  im- 
possible— he  must  demonstrate  that  the  ultimate 
extent  of  this  creative  power  falls  short  of  the 
degree  of  creative  energy  needed  to  establish  the 


104  NAZARETH   GR   TARSUS? 

germ  of  life  primarily  in  a  woman.  While  in- 
telligent denial  of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord 
is  impossible,  till  man  possesses  the  knowledge 
that  the  portals  by  which  the  soul  leaves  the  body 
are  so  irrevocably  closed  in  death  that  He  who 
placed  the  soul  within  those  portals  cannot  con- 
duct it  back  again  to  its  former  dwelling  place; 
while  a  knowledge  of  how  the  soul  originally  en- 
tered the  body  would  seem  essential  to  succss- 
fully  asserting  that  the  body  cannot  again  receive 
it  after  a  brief  separation. 

'But  these  men  are  as  earnest  thinkers  as  you 
and  I  are.  Hence  you  and  I  have  no  right  to 
condemn  them — surely  not  you  tlieologians  who 
have  put  before  them  the  temptations  to  doubt.' 

The  clergyman  was  loyal  to  the  faith  that  he 
had  received. 

'It  seems  most  unjust  that  you  should  charge 
us  with  tempting  men  to  doubt,  when  we  devote 
our  lives  to  teaching  the  truths  that  have  been 
tested  for  centuries  and  have  never  been  found 
wanting.  Would  you  renew  the  heresies  of  the 
early  church,  heresies  that  doubtless  wr<'ugh<" 
its  downfall,  at  least  in  the  eastern  church  V. 

'Heresy  is  a  word  of  such  varied  meaning — 
as  you  study  it  subjectively  or  objectively — that 
I  must  ask  you  to  excuse  me  from  answering 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  105 

your  question  in  a  direct  way;  yet  I  still  believe 
that  the  encouragement  to  much  of  what  you  call 
heresy  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Paul. 

*Yet  if  I  have  no  quarrel  with  those  who  re- 
ject the  doctrines  which  we  regard  as  essential 
— doctrines  which  my  limited  studies  have  led 
me  to  believe  in,  which  my  experience  in  evidence 
permits  me  to  recognize  as  natural  and  consist- 
ent— it  is  because  these  men  demand  nothing 
from  me.  They  recognize  that  their  investiga- 
tions are  made  in  that  same  imperfect  light  in 
which  the  science  of  chemistry  groped  a  century 
ago. 

'The  advocates  of  the  higher  criticism  recog- 
nize that  they  are  in  the  period  of  the  phlogiston ; 
of  chemical  decomposition;  and  that  there  will 
come  the  period  of  chemical  combination,  when 
the  fires  of  a  pure  devotion  will  not  burn  with 
less  of  warmth  because  they  are  fed  intelligently. 

'As  I  said,  these  men  make  no  demands  on 
me.  They  do  not  tell  me  that  I  can  find  the  way 
to  heaven  only  by  accepting  the  guidance  of  the 
disordered  mind  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  one-half  of 
whose  utterances  it  is  necessary  to  ignore  in 
order  to  believe  the  other  half. 

'In  considering  the  arguments  and  conclu- 
sions of  those  who  seek  truth  by  what  is  known 
as  higher  criticism,  I  am  impelled  to  a  choice  of 
one  of  two  positions.     First,  that  they  possess 


106  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

intellects  so  vastly  superior  to  mine  that  they 
can  recognize  as  conclusive  proof  that  A\hich 
seems  to  me  to  be  only  arbitrary  denial  on  their 
part.  I  frankly  admit  it  possible  that  Q.E.D. 
may  some  time  be  written  against  that  proposi- 
tion. The  second  ix)ssible  condition  is  that,  hav- 
ing grown  to  be  hypercritical,  they  are  too  aca- 
demic, and  do  not  regard  the  practical  conditions 
that  modify  all  evidence;  do  not  recognize  that 
probabilities  are  all  that  we  can  attain  to  in 
most  of  our  attempts  at  demonstration;  and 
most  of  all,  do  not  favorably  regard  as 
collateral  evidence  that  responsiveness  to  the 
needs  of  mankind  which  is  afforded  by  those  in- 
fluences which  have  their  seat  in  beliefs  that  are 
founded  on  evidences  which  the  higher  criticism 
alleges  are  without  adequate  historicity. 

'Slow  enough  has  been  the  advance  in  ethical 
and  altruistic  conditions.  Yet,  justly  it  seems 
to  me,  there  may  be  demanded  of  the  higher 
criticism  that  its  keen,  incisive  reasoning  demon- 
strate that  through  all  the  centuries  of  Christian- 
ity these  conditions  would  have  been  more  widely, 
more  highly  developed,  if  critical  scholarship  had 
eliminnted  at  the  outset  all  that  is  not  demon- 
strable in  the  foundation  of  those  beliefs  that 
apparently  have  promoted  the  advance  in  tliose 
ethical  and  altruistic  oonclitions.  I  am  ready 
to  regard  the  possible  objections  that  these  de- 


'NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  IQ? 

velopments  of  beneficent  influences  are  neither 
proofs  of  the  truth  of  those  beliefs  that  are 
claimed  as  the  source  of  those  beneficent  influ- 
ences, and  also  that  their  coincidence  does  not 
prove  their  relation  to  each  other. 

'The  conditions  of  the  demand  are  unchanged. 
It  seems  a  just  demand  that  higher  criticism  dem- 
onstrate what  would  be  the  present  status  of 
ethical  and  altruistic  conditions,  if  the  beliefs 
which  scholarly  criticism  foster  had  been  prev- 
alent and  potent,  its  negations  established  ever 
since  Christianity  was  demonstrated.  The  ordi- 
nary mind  entertains  such  profound  respect  for 
the  mental  capacity  of  the  advanced  thinkers 
that  the  latter  would  be  regarded  as  avoiding  a 
fair  test  if  this  demand  is  ignored. 

There  would  be,  however,  one  consistent  ex- 
cuse for  avoiding  the  test ;  namely,  that  religion 
should  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  ethical 
and  altruistic  conditions  that  are  coincident  with 
it,  since  coincidence  does  not  prove  relationship ; 
and  in  taking  this  position  scholarship  would 
be  correct  academically. 

'Xevertheless,  the  ordinary  mind  is  not  in- 
clined to  oppose  itself  to  that  practical  appeal 
— the  probability  of  the  truth  of  the  opposite 
of  this  contention ;  nor  can  it  reconcile  with  the 
law  of  probabilities  that  the  sacpitfcial  Life 
should  have  created  for  itself  so  i&Tperfect  and 


108  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

SO  indistinct  a  recollection  that  they  who  were 
its  witnesses  did  not  convey  a  reasonably  cor- 
rect account  of  both  His  acts  and  language — 
even  if  that  account  was  at  first  only  oral. 

'It  is  "the  man  in  the  street"  to  whom  I  shall 
make  my  appeals  for  a  just  recognition  of  the 
divinity  of  the  Man  of  Galilee.  I  Avish  to  be 
equipped  to  meet  his  methods  of  estimating  the 
value  and  the  truth  of  evidence  in  general. 
Moreover,  he  is  the  man  Avho  would  augment 
your  church,  if  you  would  take  the  trouble  to 
study  him. 

'But  this  man  is  eminently  practical.  He  de- 
mands of  religion  tliat  it  guide  its  possessor  safe- 
ly past  the  dangers  of  moral  shipwreck  in  a  horse 
trade;  and  when  it  conveys  consolation  to  the 
widow  and  the  fatherless  that  it  put  a  bag  of 
potatoes  under  the  wagon  seat. 

'He  cannot  make  the  nice  distinctions  between 
dogma  and  doctrine,  and  so  he  is  unable  to 
understand  how  tlie  gospel  according  to  St.  John 
"was  written  with  a  dogmatic  purpose,"  while  its 
language  is  opposed  to  the  prevalent  Pauline  doc- 
trine. 

'He  cannot  successfully  argue  the  proposition, 
but,  if  yon  have  enlisted  his  heart  on  your  side, 
he  cannot  be  convinced  that  the  early  martyrs 
gave  their  lives  in  devotion  to  one  whose  divinity 
vras   oidv  dubiously   attested:   and   though    no 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS f  109 

student  of  history  he  will  not  believe  it  probable 
that  the  malignity  of  Roman  emperors  would 
have  been  directed  against  the  followers  of  one 
whose  claims  to  divinit}^  had  no  sound  historical 
attestation — who  was  only  the  carpenter  of 
Nazareth. 

'This  man  will  recognize  that  these  perse- 
cutors had  at  their  command  sources  of  infor- 
mation other  than  Galilean  fishermen,  and  were 
too  much  absorbed  in  pleasure  and  in  the  mo- 
mentous interest  of  their  ^ast  empire  to  make 
it  probable  that  they  would  give  any  attention 
to  a  band  of  fanatics  who  were  eminently  non- 
resistant,  unless  those  emperors  felt  that  a  real, 
though  invisible,  danger  lurked  beneath  that  non- 
resistance.  Cruel  enough  by  nature  were  those 
persecutors;  but  it  was  fear — prophetic  fear,  as 
time  soon  proved — that  actuated  them.  Fear 
that  doubtless  had  its  source  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  supernatural  power  of  the  Master  of  those 
fanatics;  and  that  knowledge  of  His  power  was 
frequently  recognized  by  those  whom  those  em- 
perors had  placed  in  power  in  Judea. 

'That  this  "man  in  the  street"  does  not  possess 
the  scholarship  v/hich  enables  him  to  stamp  any 
alleged  fact  as  improbable,  solely  because  it  can- 
not command  an  unbroken  train  of  historical 
evidence,  can  be  regarded  as  a  defect  which  time 
may  correct,     Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  he  Iiul^ 


no  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

seen — perhaps  painfully  experienced — the  de- 
ceptiveness  of  circumstantial  evidence  and  of 
inferences,  so  that  he  will  place  little  value  on  the 
deductions  of  scholars  when  the}'  urge  nega- 
tions which  are  the  result  of  reasonings  which 
are  academic. 

'This  man,  whom  you  ought  to  seek  to  win,  is 
not  inclined  to  honor  demands  on  his  credu- 
lity, but  he  has  not  the  mental  capacity  to  recog- 
nize the  force  of  the  argument  of  the  higher 
criticism  against  the  probability  of  miracles,  that 
the  question  is  not  "What  can  God  do?''  but 
"What  does  He  do?" 

'But  when  this  practical  man  sees  plant  life 
change  all  the  form,  structure,  development, 
which  it  has  inherited  through  countless  genera- 
tions, that  it  may  stretch  itself  up  to  the  sun- 
light from  the  pit  where  it  has  been  unnatu- 
rally placed;  developing  with  an  effectiveness 
which  indicates  the  exertion  of  adaptive  intel- 
ligence— within  itself  or  from  without ;  or  when 
he  regards  the  expansion  by  cold,  of  that  ele- 
ment which  is  the  most  expansive  by  heat,  and 
studk'S  the  disastrous  results  if  ice  were  to  fol- 
low the  general  law  that  heat  expands  and  cold 
contracts;  this  practical  man  has  not  the  acu- 
men to  comprehend  the  asserted  limitations  of 
the  divine  adaptive  power,  for  he  cannot  under- 
stand the  claim  that  this  exercise  of  adaptive  in- 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSU8P  HI 

telligence  is  exerted  for  material  results  only, 
and  that  it  cannot,  or  will  not,  be  used  in  dem- 
onstrating— through  miracles — that  the  limita- 
tions of  divine  power  are  incomprehensible  by 
the  human  intellect.  Consequently  he  cannot 
intelligently  follow  that  course  of  induction  by 
which  the  student  of  advanced  theology  can  con- 
vince himself  that  miracles  are  improbable. 
Yet  this  student  is  consistent  in  his  negations. 

'But  you  lay  side  by  side  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles and  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  you 
expect  men  to  believe  both.  For,  in  your  stern 
determination  to  maintain  the  dicta  of  Paul^ 
you  are  reckless  of  inviting  distrust  of  botli 
records — through  the  opposition  of  each  to  the 
other.  And  then,  when  men  have  learned  that 
lesson  of  distrust,  you  wonder  that  they  go  on 
to  doubt  essentials. 

'Will  the  time  ever  come  that  you  will  be  con- 
tent to  teach  the  simple  creed  of  a  natural  God 
and  a  consistent  gospel?  For  that  gospel  can 
never  be  consistent  while  you  demand  belief  in 
statements  diametrically  opposed  to  one  another. 

'Doubtless  there  are  some  comparisons  and 
analyses  which  demand  a  knowledge  of  the- 
ology, at  least  of  philology,  and  of  the  original 
text.  But  it  requires  only  a  reasonable  knowl- 
edge of  the  principles  of  evidence  to  compare 


113  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

the  testimony  of  Acts  and  of  Galatians.  The 
account  in  tlie  early  part  of  Acts  appears  to  be  a 
quotation  from  some  other  author  by  the  his- 
torian of  St.  Paul.  An  evident  and  convincing 
consistency  pervades  that  part.  Its  language 
and  thought  are  just  what  we  have  a  right  to 
expect  from  men  who  had  awakened  to  the  great- 
ness of  their  loss,  simultaneously  with  their 
awakening  to  the  divine  grandeur  of  the  Master ; 
awakened,  too,  to  the  responsibility  that  He  had 
laid  upon  them. 

'Conscious  of  their  human  weakness,  they  are 
full  of  conscious  power  in  the  strength  that  He 
has  bequeathed  to  them.  This  record  of  their 
dignity,  their  rapt  self  abnegation,  their  noble 
awe  as  they  recognize  their  responsibility,  bears 
the  impress  of  truth. 

'By  the  side  of  this  deep,  placid  stream  of 
thought  you  let  run  the  wild,  turgid  flow  of 
uncurbed  emotion  that  the  early  chapters  of 
Galatians  display.  It  does  not  need  either 
scholar  or  scientific  philologist  to  recognize  that 
this  flow  has  no  higher  source  than  the  heart  of 
a  man  who  is  chafing  under  keen  personal  dis- 
appointment. Envy  of  the  apostles  has  grown 
almost  to  bate.  Truth  is  no  barrier  in  the  un- 
restrained rush  of  chagrin  and  evident  jealousy. 

'In  other  epistles  he  has  shown  a  degr(>e  of 
chogrin  and  petulance  because  he  had  not  re- 


NAZARETH   OB   TARSUSf  US 

ceived  the  personal  devotion  to  which  he  felt 
that  he  was  entitled.  It  would  be  amusing,  if 
it  were  not  so  serious  a  matter,  to  witness  in 
those  plaints  how  his  personal  pride  recoils  from 
recognizing  the  neglect ;  and  hoAV  he  bestows  ful- 
some praise — which  displays  its  tenuity  in  the 
strained  terms  of  a  gratitude  unnaturally  simu- 
lated, and  which  could  not  for  a  moment  deceive 
any  one  who  has  made  a  study  of  evidence. 

'But  in  this  epistle  all  caution  is  thrown  aside. 
Unimpeded  by  actual  facts  the  unguarded 
statements  run.  Yet  he  recognizes  that  these 
statements  will  be  sharply  challenged — indeed 
he  gives  us  all  the  more  reason  for  questioning 
their  truth  by  his  oath,  "Before  God  I  lie  not." 

'Pity  for  the  disordered  mind  is  the  highest 
sentiment  which  these  chapters  should  arouse. 

'And  yet  the  church  has  been  so  "falsely  true" 
to  what  it  has  construed  as  a  divine  message,  that 
it  has  practically  told  the  world  that  it  has  so 
little  faith  in  the  convincing  power  of  the  great 
underlying  truths  of  Christianity,  that  it  does 
not  dare  to  eliminate  these  statements  of  a  dis- 
ordered mind ;  statements  that  might  be  ignored 
if  they  did  not  deny  important  truths. 

'But  in  its  challenge  of  the  truth  of  the  post- 
resurrection  history  of  the  Church  at  Jeru- 
salem Paul's  language  attacks  statements  which 
are   close  to   essential   truths   of   Christianity. 


114  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

For  if  belief  in  the  j)ost-resurrection  history  is 
destroyed  we  must  expect  that  the  ante-resur- 
rection history  will  be  questioned.  Consequent- 
ly, to  the  unquestioning  believer  two  conditions 
are  presented. 

'First :  That  the  doctrines  which  Paul  pro- 
mulgated are  mysteriouslj^  essential  to  a  true 
faith  in  Christ.  Second:  That  those  essential 
doctrines  are  inscrutably  identified  with  the  jjer- 
sonality  of  Paul.  So  that  all  of  his  utterances 
— even  if  involving  no  question  of  doctrine — 
must  be  accepted  as  the  truth,  even  if  they  con- 
flict with  the  post-resurrection  history,  regard- 
less of  the  fact  that  such  conflict  invites  distrust 
of  the  earlier  basic  history  of  Christianity. 

'Now  please  tell  me  if  I  have  stated  the  case 
unfairly? 

'Yet  first  let  me  examine  with  you  that  chain 
of  dogma  on  which,  as  you  tell  me,  the  Pauline 
theology  is  dependent. 

'As  I  recall  it,  it  was  in  effect  as  follows — 
that  all  mankind  having  merited  eternal  death, 
through  the  disobedience  of  our  first  parents, 
universal  pardon  could  bo  obtained  only  through 
the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ.  You  elaborated 
this  in  four  propositions. 

'I  frankly  admit  that  their  sequence  is  natural, 
that  each  succeeding  link  is  the  logical  conclu- 
sion from  that  which  precedes  it;  and  I  have 


ifAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  US 

only  one  objection  to  admitting  its  power  to  sus- 
tain the  dogma  which  is  dependent  upon  it. 

'The  first  link,  like  Mohammed's  coffin,  is 
floating  in  the  air,  at  least  to  my  vision;  and 
when  that  first  link  falls  the  succeeding  links 
must  collapse.  Novxhere  in  the  teachings  of  our 
Lord  does  it  have  support,  and  nowhere  in  the 
Old  Testament  can  there  be  found  a  sustaining 
power,  though  there  are  two  or  three  sentences 
of  dubious  meaning  which  may  be  wrested  to  a 
semblance  of  support.' 

'No;  not  a  semblance  of  support,'  the  clergy- 
man said.  'A  divine  hand  reaches  down  and 
grasps  it,  through  the  revelation  vouchsafed  to  St. 
Paul.  That  which  you  contemn — that  "my  gos- 
pel" which  he  received,  "not  with  flesh  and 
blood,"  but  by  direct  inspiration,  was  his  au- 
thority.' 

And  to  this  the  Man  answered: 

'When  a  INIormon  elder  can  obtain  an  addi- 
tional wife  only  by  receiving  a  revelation ;  when 
to  a  Eoman  pontiff  a  coveted  additional  power 
can  come  only  through  a  revelation;  or  when  a 
Paul  must  witness  the  collapsing  of  the  chain 
of  reasoning  upon  which  his  whole  system  of 
dogma  is  dependent,  unless  he  can  fasten  its 


116  KAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

first  link  to  a  revelation,  we  have  a  right  to  con- 
sider the  frailty  of  human  nature,  and  to  recog- 
nize that  an  intense  and  longing  contemplation 
of  any  object  of  absorbing  interest  makes  the 
mind — especially  a  mind  so  ready  to  entertain 
visions  as  ^\as  St.  Paul's — unfitted  to  discrimi- 
nate between  actual  revelation,  and  a  conviction 
founded  on  a  believed  need  of  establishing  a 
cherished  theory.  To  my  mind  it  is  illogical  to 
claim  that  our  Lord  should  have  left  any  impor- 
tant element  of  his  mission  to  be  developed  at  a 
later  period,  by  any  method  so  unreliable — 
through  opportunities  of  decejjtion  and  dangers 
of  self-deception — as  are  revelations.  For  my 
■psiTt  I  find  a  sufficiency  in  that  which  our  Lord 
alone  has  taught,  and  I  can  find  no  compensation 
for  the  undermining  elfect  of  the  fiood  of  revela- 
tions which  have  their  inception  through  Paul.' 

The  clergyman  faced  his  visitor  for  the  final 
struggle. 

'You  have  chosen  to  establish  yourself  in  a 
position  which  is  not  fortified  b}'  Christian  ex- 
perience. You  eliminate  all  that  Christian 
scholarship  has  vindicated  in  the  writings  of  St. 
Paul.  You  deny  the  reliability  of  the  gospel  of 
St.  Luke.  What  will  you  or  I  gain  by  trying  to 
meet  on  any  common  ground?  You  choose  to 
deny  so  much.     I  challenge  you  to  any  proof  of 


Nazareth  or  tarsus f  ny 

that  to  which  you  choose  to  pay  a,  quasi  respect. 
Define  to  me  by  what  principles  of  electism  you 
reject  as  false  or  accept  as  true.  You  accuse 
St.  Paul  of  opening  the  door  to  heresies ;  you  who 
are  encouraging  the  atheist,  by  your  denials,  to 
deny  the  essentials  of  Christianity.  What  can 
you  offer  to  him  in  j)roof  of  Christ's  divinity?' 

Then  the  Man  calmly  replied : 

'I  offer  the  evidence  of  His  miracles;  they  are 
testimony  to  the  divine  sanction  of  His  claims 
of  sharing  divinity.' 

'And  if  the  atheist  chooses  to  follow  your  ex- 
ample; if  he  denies  the  historic  accuracy  of  all 
of  the  four  gospels,  as  you  do  that  of  the  third 
gospel,  you  are  powerless  to  refute  him?'  the 
clergyman  replied. 

'Not  powerless,  and  you  know  it.  I  plant  my 
defense  on  the  Toledoth  Jeschu.  By  all  prin- 
ciples of  evidence  that  attack  of  His  enemies 
never  would  have  been  written  if  the  miracler^ 
had  not  been  supernatural  beyond  the  power  of 
the  human  intellect  to  assign  a  natural  cause; 
indisputable  proof  it  gave,  too,  that  the  record- 
ing of  them  was  historically  reliable.' 

The  ]Man  had  risen  v^hile  making  his  answer, 
prej)aring  to  end  the  interview.     Each  looked 


118  VAZ ARETE   OR   TARSUS? 

into  the  other's  face,  and  each  face  expressed 
something  akin  to  contempt.  Surely  the  clergy- 
man's face  reflected  his  feelings.  To  defend  his 
position  he  had  assumed  the  attitude  of  the 
atheist.  He  felt  that  he  was  safe  in  his  false 
position.  For  twenty  years  he  had  taught  the 
accepted  truths  of  Christianity  to  his  charge, 
and  he  had  measured  this  man  by  the  same  stand- 
ard that  he  applied  to  those  to  whom  he  minis- 
tered. And  now  his  visitor,  who  only  six  months 
ago  was  like  a  little  child  in  trust  and  submis- 
sion, had  proved  him  to  be  a  dissimulator.  Xo 
wonder  the  clergyman  was  contemptuous — to- 
wards himself — in  his  failure  to  use,  success- 
fully, the  weapons  of  the  atheist;  yet  ready  to 
have  the  contempt  construed  as  anger  because 
his  creed  had  been  attacked. 


tJAZ ARETE   OR   TARSUS  f  119 


IX. 


Soon  after  his  return  to  his  home,  this  letter 
was  delivered  to  the  Man: 

"Dear  Sir:  I  fear  that  you  have  been  actu- 
ated not  so  much  by  a  desire  to  discover  truth, 
as  to  weaken  my  own  faith  by  your  sophistries 
and  intemperate  assaults  on  the  authority  of  a 
man  whom  the  Church  has  regarded  for  centu- 
ries as  an  inspired  and  able  champion  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Calmly  I  view  that  universal 
and  undimmed  faith  in  St.  Paul,  as  it  stretches 
out  in  a  vista  of  nearly  two  thousand  years. 

"It  will  require  more  than  you  have  advanced 
in  your  conversations  with  me  to  shake  that  con- 
fidence in  him  which  I  hold,  in  common  with  all 
Christendom.  In  reverence  for  St.  Paul  Cath- 
olic and  Protestant  stand  together;  the  most 
radical  divisions  on  creeds  and  forms  do  not 
weaken  this  unity. 

"I  grant  that  I  cannot  refute  all  of  your  state- 
ments and  inferences.  St.  Paul  may  have  been 
egotistical,  imperious,  proud  of  his  intellectual 
acquirements;  but  the    impress    which    he   has 


120  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

made  on  the  Christian  thought  of  the  ages  is  not 
to  be  obliterated  by  the  charge  of  insanity. 

"Temporarily  your  assertions  and  arguments 
have  clouded  my  mind ;  l)ut  my  faith  rises  above 
the  mists  you  have  called  up,  and  I  have  peace, 
as  myriads  of  souls  have  had  during  the  past 
centuries,  and  in  that  I  find  rest. 

"Had  you  succeeded  in  your  evident  purpose, 
I  would  have  been  driven  to  acknowledge  that  I, 
and  all  who  teach  the  theology  based  on  the  doc- 
trines of  St.  Paul,  are  teaching  lies.  What  then 
could  I  do?  I  must  either  continue  to  teach  a 
lie  or  withdraw  from  the  ministry  to  which  T 
believe  myself  called  of  God,  and  to  which  1 
have  devoted  the  best  years  of  my  life. 

"Did  it  occur  to  you  for  even  a  moment  what 
such  an  uprooting  of  my  faith  would  cost?  If  I 
stood  alone,  it  would  be  bitter,  even  agonizing. 

"To  deny  my  faith  would  be  to  make  homeless 
those  whom  God  has  given  me  to  love  and  care 
for.  As  I  write  T  hear  the  sound  of  my  crippled 
daughter's  crutch.  Every  tap  of  that  crutch 
3mites  my  heart  like  a  blow.  She  is  helpless, 
shut  out  from  most  of  the  pleasures  that  should 
delight  her  youth,  deprived  of  the  joy  that  should 
crown  her  coming  womanhood.  The  burden  lies 
heavily  on  that  young  heart.  Shall  I  make  it 
heavier  by  depriving  her  of  the  comforts  which 
now — though  I  am  only  a  poor  clergyman — my 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf  121 

position  enables  me  to  command  ?  I  have  taught 
hei'  that  it  is  a  Father's  hand  which  thus  afflicts 
her,  and  she  is  sustained  by  believing  this.  The 
faith  you  despise  is  her  strength  and  support,  as 
it  is  mine.  At  your  bidding  shall  I  surrender 
this?  No.  My  lips  may  not  have  a  ready  an- 
swer to  your  arguments.  But  my  heart  tells  me 
that  it  is  safer  to  cling  to  the  teachings  of 
the  revered  instructors  of  my  youth.  I  decline 
to  read  your  communication,  because  I  will  not 
risk  the  weakening  of  my  faith  through  that 
which  it  may  speciously  advance.  I  believe 
they  knew  the  truth.  I  am  content  to  follow 
their  instruction  and  not  your  reasonings,  the 
fallacies  of  which  I  shall  find  in  due  time.  Mean- 
while T  shall  pray  for  you,  for  I  wish  to  believe 
that  you  are  sincere  in  your  desire  to  find  the 
right  way. 

"Faithfully  yours, 

"James  Underwood." 

Deliberately  the  Man  reread  the  letter,  quot- 
ing aloud,  "I  fear  you  have  been  moved  .  .  . 
by  desire  ...  to  weaken  my  own  faith." 
There  was  a  trace  of  sarcasm  in  his  voice  as  he 
repeated : 

'^OJi^  load  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursels  as  itliers  see  us; 
It  toad  frae  mony  a  hlmider  free  us 
And  foolish  notion." 


123  "NAZARETH    OR    TARHVH? 

'It  seems  to  me  to  be  a  clear  case  of  "the  pot 
calling  the  kettle  black."  And  siireh'  it  wasn't 
I  who  began  this  fencing  with  creeds.  It  is  posi- 
tively refreshing — the  coolness  with  which  he  ig- 
nores his  own  attack  on  my  faith.  How  indif- 
ferent he  was  then  to  the  consequences  to  me — 
perhaps  through  eternity — of  his  attempt  to  de- 
stroy my  faith.  And  yet,  how  virtuously  indig- 
nant he  is  when  I,  in  turn,  attack  his  faith.' 

Again  he  quotes  from  the  letter:  "I  view  that 
universal  and  undimmed  faith  in  St.  Paul,  as  it 
stretches  out  in  a  vista  of  nearly  two  thousand 
years." 

'Ah,  my  dear  minister,  how  convenient  is  a 
bad  memory.  For  during  that  same  "nearly  two 
thousand  years"  the  fires  of  a  material  hell  also 
have  been  "undimmed";  have  flashed  as  luridly 
as  at  the  beginning  of  those  centuries.  And  al- 
though so  recently  as  is  your  own  childhood  that 
material  hell  was  preached,  still  you  know  that 
to-day  you  would  not  presume  to  preach  that  doc- 
trine to  any  intelligent  congregation.  Hence — 
in  the  light  of  this  radical  change  of  belief  dur- 
ing your  own  lifetime — who  are  you  to  assert  so 
positively  the  permanence  of  that  "blood  doc- 
trine" which  St.  Paul  has  engrafted  onto  the 
Christian  faith? 

'The  one  error  has  died  out,  its  lurid*  fires  pal- 
ing before  the  light  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS?  123 

No  visible  power  has  dispelled  the  intervening 
clouds,  but  silently  tbey  melted  away.  And  since 
within  a  half  century  these  sulphurous  flames 
have  ceased  to  be  visible,  bold  beyond  prudence 
is  he  who  can  assert  that  those  Pauline  blood 
stains  on  the  garments  of  the  Father  will  not 
fade  away  in  the  light  of  those  same  pure  rays 
which  subdued  the  baleful  flames  of  God's  im- 
puted wrath.' 

He  read  on,  and  the  hard  lines  in  his  face 
were  fading;  a  gentler  mood  possessed  him. 
Once  more  he  quotes :  "Shut  out  from  the  pleas- 
ures which  should  delight  her  youth."  "It  is  a 
Father's  hand  that  has  imposed  the  burden." 

'No;  it  is  not  a"Father's  hand."  Every  miracle 
of  healing  from  the  hand  of  our  Lord :  within  our- 
selves every  impulse  of  tenderness  and  of  pity 
for  those  who  suffer,  gives  the  lie  to  this.  And 
more  plainly  still,  "whom  Satan  hath  bound ;  lo, 
these  fifteen  years,"  is  the  direct  and  unqualified 
refutation  by  our  Lord  of  this  calumny. 

'In  this  attributing  her  suffering  to  a  loving 
Father  he  is  not  even  consistent  with  his  Pauline 
teaching.  For  unqualifiedly  Paul  describes  death 
as  an  enemy — the  last  enemy — that  Christ  is  to 
conquer. 

'We  have  a  right  to  apply  here  the  axiom  that 
"the  greater  includes  the  less ;"  so  it  is  logical  to 
consider  that  disease,  and  every  disaster  that 


124  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 

produces  death,  originates  with  that  "enemy"; 
a  power  which  cannot  be  an  ally  or  instrumental- 
ity of  divinity,  since  it  is  so  inimical  that  Christ 
must  conquer  it. 

'How  Satan  must  rejoice  in  this  attributing  to 
God  the  consequences  of  his  own  malignity !  Yet 
what  avails  the  positive  statements  of  our  Lord 
rf  they  are  opposed  by  the  dicta  of  an  established 
theology?  For  religion  is  but  the  handmaid  of 
theology. 

*  "Bound,  lo,  these  fifteen  years,"  has  been  this 
innocent  child ;  and  for  thrice  fifteen  years  more, 
perhaps,  she  will  be  in  Satan's  leash.  Would 
God  that  I  could  find  some  way  to  weaken 
those  bonds  that  make  her  "shut  out  from  the 
joys  that  should  bless."  ' 

Lie  rose  and  paced  the  room,  as  was  his  cus- 
tom Avhen  some  grave  problem  tried  him;  then 
he  lay  with  his  face  in  his  hands,  as  he  was  wont 
to  do  when  the  solution  seemed  almost  hopeless. 

'Mentally,  emotionally,  physically;  these 
bound  the  horizon  of  the  possibilities.'  He  was 
arguing  Avith  himself.  'The  second  must  be 
eliminated.  That  is  a  province  which,  now  at 
least,  I  have  no  right  to  enter.  That  is  too 
largely  controlled  by  her  father.  The  first  is  too 
abstruse;  T  have  not  now  the  knowledge  of  the 
conditions  that  would  enable  me  to  work  intelli- 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  125 

gently.  Let  that  be  laid  aside,  at  least  for  the 
present. 

'But  the  last  possibility,  '^physically"? 

'Surgical  skill  has  admitted  its  power lessness. 
I  cannot  change  that  condition.  To  supplement 
materially:  that  alone  is  left.     But  how?' 

Presently  he  arose,  his  countenance  showing 
his  sense  of  relief — at  least  of  his  hope  of  a 
solution — and  he  rang  the  bell.  Promptly  the 
maid  would  have  answered  the  call,  but  a  wom- 
an anticipated  her,  herself  answering  the  sum- 
mons. 

'You  called  me.' 

'I  rang.' 

'But  you  called  me.' 

There  was  something  triumphant  in  the  tone; 
something  exultant  in  the  pose  and  manner  of 
the  woman,  as  she  stood  at  the  library  threshold, 
repeating  her  answer  to  his  call. 

But  let  us  see  who  this  woman  is  who  awaits 
his  invitation  to  enter. 

Not  wife,  not  daughter.  For  there  was  an 
archness  and  an  expression  half  pleading,  half 
winning,  to  which  assured  position  makes  a 
woman  superior — or  makes  her  indifferent  to 
please  in  little  things — as  you  prefer. 


126  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf 


X. 


"WANTED— The  daughter  of  an  army  oflflcer  desires  a 
position  as  housekeeper.  Has  had  experience  in  her  own 
home.  Would  prefer  a  location  other  than  in  central  New 
England.    Address,"  etc.,  etc. 

Naturally,  tlie  last  sentence  of  the  advertise- 
ment attracted  attention,  and  the  Man  gave  it 
careful  study.  Pride  as  its  motive  he  quickly 
eliminated,  for  if  merely  loss  of  income  had  com- 
pelled her  to  leave  her  home  the  entire  wording 
would  have  been  different.  It  was  evident  that 
she  wished  to  remove  herself  from  painful  asso- 
ciations, which  financial  losses  alone  would  not 
have  made  repugnant.  Between  the  lines  he 
read  a  sense  of  shame  which  impelled  her  to  seek 
a  position  among  strangers.  But  because  the 
lines  were  there  he  was  sure  that  the  shame  was 
a  reflected  one — not  her  own.  He  read,  too,  a 
consideration  for  others ;  an  unwillingness  to  in- 
vite replies  which  she  would  not  wish  to  con- 
sider. 

Tie  wrote  briefly,  stating  his  position,  and  that 
entire  responsibility  and  an  independent  author- 
ity Tv^ould  be  given  to  any  one  who  was  placed' 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f  127 

at  the  head  of  his  household.    To  this  there  came 
the  answer: 

"Dear  Sir:  I  thank  you  so  much  for  your 
reply.  I  like  it — more  than  any  reply  I  have 
received.  I  dreaded  taking  this  means  of  sup- 
porting myself,  because  I  feared  I  should  be  sub- 
ject to  another  woman's  whims.  I  am  already 
building  castles  in  the  air  and  wondering  what 
all  will  be  like,  if  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  give 
me  the  position.  And  if  I  am  at  all  impatient,  it 
is  because  I  must  consider  other  replies,  which 
I  frankly  tell  you  are  not  so  welcome  as  yours. 
Let  me  tell  you  at  once — and  have  the  shameful 
story  over — why  I  must  support  myself  and  why 
I  wish  to  leave  old  associations. 

"My  husband  was  recently  committed  to  state 
prison,  for  'irregularities'  in  his  accounts.  He 
was  head  bookkeeper  in  a  bank  here.  Can  I  send 
you  any  references?  Please  command  me  if  you 
wish  me  to  tell  you  anything  more  about  myself. 
I  will  be  only  too  glad  to  respond. 

"Most  respectfully  yours, 

"Edith  Adams  Marriner.^' 

And  thus  the  Man's  analysis  ran:  'Either 
this  is  a  somewhat  impulsive  young  woman — 
perhaps  younger  than  Mrs.  Grundy  would  per- 
mit me  to  take  into  my  household,  if  I  and  Mrs. 


128  NAZARETH   OR   TARSVSf 

Grundy  had  mutual  friends  whose  interest  in 
me  was  shown  in  other  ways  than,  "thou  shalt 
not" — or  else  it's  a  good  many  years  since  she 
"picked  the  shell,"  and  yet  is  trying  to  pass  her- 
self off  as  a  spring  chicken.  She  is  very  ingenu- 
ous and  frank,  or  she  is  skilled  in  flattery.  For- 
tunatel}'  there  is  no  half  way  ground,  and  the 
closing  sentence  of  her  advertisement  tells  me — 
by  its  inner  meaning — more  than  all  that  she  has 
written.  So  I  will  give  her  the  benetit  of  the 
doubt;  and  I  will  hope  that  she  is  young  and 
handsome,  and  vail  make  an  attractive  piece  of 
bric-a-brac,  to  put  in  this  cabinet — my  home. 
That  the  "irregularities"  were  not  in  any  degree 
her  own  fault,  that  she  did  not  tempt  her  hus- 
band into  extravagance,  I  am  convinced — unless 
she.  is  an  old  cat  playing  kitten — for  conscious 
guilt  would  have  exemplified  ^'qui  s'excuse,  s'ac- 
Guse";  and  she  would  have  told  a  pretty  fairy  tale 
of  "deceived  into  liberal  home  expenditures  by 
his  boasting  of  successful  speculations,  which 
made  her  feel  free  to  enjoy  his  seeming  success." 
So  T  will  telegraph  that  I  will  come  to-morrow.' 

His  hand  was  on  the  call.  'No,  I  will  go  un- 
announced; a  woman  of  character  and  true  re- 
finement is  never  placed  at  a  disadvantage  by 
the  unexpected.' 

He  found  the  conditions  practically  as  he  had 
anticipated,  in  regard  to  the  wife's  innocence  of 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  I29 

any  share  in  her  husband's  downfall.  That  hus- 
band had  been  tempted  by  his  vanity — his  intense 
personal  vanity  that  made  him  oblivious  to  the 
suffering  and  shame  that  would  fall  on  his  wife. 
The  bank  had  among  its  prominent  patrons  a 
coterie  of  good  fellows,  who  never  neglected  busi- 
ness for  pleasure — if  they  were  liable  to  be 
caught  at  it.  And  though  "a  good  v«'orkman  is 
known  by  his  chips,"  the  "chips"  to  which  they 
devoted  a  large  portion  of  their  nights  repre- 
sented the  debris  of  energies  that  were  too  much 
wasted  to  permit  competing  successfully  in  busi- 
ness with  capacities  that  were  unimpaired.  So 
they  must  have  accommodation  at  the  bank, 
and  more  than  their  "limit"  would  allow. 

Very  much  flattered  was  the  struggling  book- 
keeper when  these  prominent  men  became  so 
friendly  to  him,  offering  him  an  opportunity  to 
add  to  his  income  by  devoting  his  evenings  to  the 
books  and  accounts  of  the  club  where  they  met 
every  night.  Perhaps  it  was  through  the  manip- 
ulation of  these  men  that  complaint  was  made 
that  this  income  passed  to  one  who  was  not  a 
member  of  the  club,  and  so  he  Avas  induced  to 
use  part  of  his  new  income  in  the  payment  of 
his  dues — his  entry  fee  generously  paid  by  his 
friends.  It  was  so  easy  to  cajole  him  into  a 
"quiet  game,"  now  that  the  club  rules  permit- 
ted him  to  play.     It  was  just  as  easy  to  let  him 


130  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?     ' 

win,  and  still  easier  to  flatter  his  vanity  by  ad- 
miring his  skill  and  coolness.  And  then,  when 
the  time  was  ripe,  the  play  was  made  heavy  and 
he  lost,  and  lost  again,  then  won,  till  at  last  he 
lost  his  head — and  half  a  year's  income.  Pity 
he  had  not  then  some  friend  to  go  to  who  would 
have  shown  to  him  the  pitfall  which  his  false 
friends  were  digging  under  his  feet.  But  his 
captors  did  not  demand  any  money;  his  note 
would  suffice,  and  "your  old  luck  will  come  back." 
And  so  it  did ;  and  then  went  away  faster  than  it 
came — and  farther.  Then  there  was  a  birthday 
dinner  given,  and,  when  the  wine  had  made  him 
ripe  for  his  fall,  the  generous  hosts  gave  him  back 
his  notes  and  drew  from  him  the  promise  to  give 
them  large  accommodation  at  the  bank,  sub- 
stituting notes  that  they  knew  to  be  valueless  for 
the  bank's  cash,  and  to  falsify  his  books  to  cover 
the  deception. 

He  saved  '  them  from  business  failure.  Tie 
wrecked  himself.  It  was  the  old  story.  A  sud- 
den sharp  illness;  a  new  man  at  the  books.  A 
call  at  his  house  by  the  cashier  of  the  bank.  A 
confession  of  that  which  was  self-evident. 

But  his  tempters  were  prompt  in  their  offers 
of  help.  They  secured  the  best  legal  counsel, 
who  in  a  fatherly  way  convinced  him  that  to 
plead  guilty  would  ligliten  his  sentence;  that  not 
to  implicate  the  influential  men  whom  he  had 


NAZARETH   Ok   TARSUS f  131 

"accommodated"  would  command  their  influence 
to  secure  a  speedy  pardon,  and  assure  their  aid  to 
put  him  on  his  feet  again  when  his  short  term 
was  over,  they  meanwhile  caring  for  his  wife.  So 
the  jjrison  walls  closed  on  him,  the  weak  victim, 
while  his  tempters  were  astounded  and,  with  the 
gravity  of  hypocrisy,  regretted  that  so  promis- 
ing a  young  man  should  wreck  his  prospects. 

Through  it  all  his  wife  uttered  no  word  of 
reproach.  His  ^lonor'  prevented  him  from  tell- 
ing her  how  he  had  disposed  of  his  thefts.  So 
well  had  the  able  counsel  done  his  work. 

He  was  the  man  to  whom  she  had  given  her- 
self, both  body  and  soul,  in  her  first  love.  So  she 
could  not  hate  him. 

He  was  silent  when  she  asked  him  where  the 
money  had  gone.     So  she  could  not  pity  him. 

She  had  only  one  thought — to  find  some  place 
where  every  one  did  not  regard  her  with  either 
pity  or  contempt. 

Yes,  she  was  young;  and  if  not  beautiful,  no 
man  need  fear,  when  he  had  friends  to  entertain, 
that  she  would  not  lend  grace  to  the  head  of  the 
table. 

While  waiting  for  her  to  respond  to  his  an- 
nouncement— and  he  carefully  noted  the  minutes 
that  she  required  to  make  herself  presentable — 
he  hastily  examined  the  photographs  in  the  room 


132  NAZARETH   OR    TARSVSf 

till  he  found  the  face  for  which  he  had  been 
seeking.  Just  a  trace  of  a  smile  played  about 
his  lips  as  he  regarded  the  face  of  a  man  of 
thirty,  'Weak,  vain,  selfish;  not  the  selfishness 
of  a  mean  nature,  but  of  one  who  had  been 
petted  and  had  grown  to  be  thoughtless  of  others. 
No  Avoman  Avho  could  admire  true  nobility  of 
character  could  love  such  a  man.  Let  us  hope' 
— he  said  to  himself — 'that  she  was  only  a  girl 
when  she  married ;  maybe  it  was  for  the  interest 
of  others  to  exhibit  him  to  her  in  a  too  flattering 
light.     We  will  see.' 

The  Man  had  barely  ended  his  analysis  and  in- 
ferences when  the  door  of  the  room  opened.  He 
was  just  a  little  flattered  by  the  eager  expectancy 
which  lightened  her  face.  Truly  she  had  been 
"building  castles  in  the  air,"  for  she  came  for- 
ward with  hand  extended,  as  if  she  were  meeting 
an  old  friend. 

'It  is  a  pleasant  surprise.  Rut  wasn't  T  worth 
just  a  little  word  that  I  might  have  the  pleasure 
of  looking  forward  to  your  call?  You  can't  un- 
derstand what  a  pleasure  it  is  to  see  a  new  face; 
a  face  that  hasn't  followed  me  for  months,  al- 
ways showing  consciousness  of  my  misfortune. 
I  hope  that  you  never  knew  what  it  is  to  have 
the  fault  of  some  one  else  to  boar.' 

The  Man  drew  a  little  breath  as  if  hit  unex- 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS t  133 

pectedly.  ^^ Arcades  amho/'  he  said  to  himself. 
'We  have  both  tasted  the  same  cup.' 

'Do  you  believe  in  presentiments?'  she  con- 
tinued, 'or  inspirations,  or  angel's  whispers,  or 
call  them  what  you  will?  Well,  when  your  let- 
ter came  my  heart  seemed  to  leap  into  my  throat 
before  I  opened  it.     I  felt  that  it  held  my  fate.' 

She  had  turned  impulsively,  and  as  she  looked 
him  full  in  the  face  and  saw  his  eyes  intently 
regarding  her,  her  voice  wavered,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment she  was  silent.  Presently  in  more  meas- 
ured sentences,  her  eyes  holding  a  far-off  look, 
she  added  in  self-reproachful  tones: 

'I  fear  that  I  have  made  a  grave  mistake.  I 
cannot  blame  you  if  you  have  misunderstood  me ; 
if  you  have  thought  me  bold  and  unwomanly.' 

But  the  frank  naturalness  of  her  impulses 
broke  quickly  through  the  constraint;  and  again 
looking  fully  and  calmly  into  the  face  that  was 
as  free  as  her  ovrn  from  false  sentiment,  she 
added : 

'I  beg  you  to  regard  the  oppressive  burden  of 
these  weeks  of  worse  than  widowhood.  Put  your- 
self in  my  place — but  without  a  man's  resources; 
only  the  choice  between  pity  or  contempt  in  every 
face  that  you  saw.  And  then  you  came.  You 
gave  me  no  time  to  compose  myself.  I  came  to 
you  at  once.  My  heart  was  full  of  hope.  I  had 
not  time  to  think.    I  could  only  feel;  only  long 


134  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

that  you  were  to  take  me  away  from  my  humilia- 
tion.' Then  she  waited  in  suppressed  anxiety 
for  his  answer. 

'You  asked  me,'  he  said,  'if  I  believed  in  pre- 
sentiments. Yes  and  no.  I  think  there  was 
never  a  woman  who  cared  for  my  welfare  but 
startled  me  with  a  strange,  though  imperfect, 
insight  into  my  actions.  They  were  impressions 
which  could  not  have  come  by  mortal  knowledge. 
Let  me  tell  you  the  most  striking. 

'I  was  trying  to  find  who  was  the  writer  of  a 
letter  that  was  evidence  of  a  crime.  I  had  in- 
advertently taken  a  car  that  was  dropped  at 
a  little  city,  so  I  there  must  remain  for  the  next 
train  to  the  place  where  I  thought  it  probable 
that  the  author  of  the  letter  lived. 

'To  beguile  the  time  I  took  some  letters  which 
had  been  given  to  me  and  began  to  compare 
them  with  the  incriminating  letter.  I  was  doing 
it  idly  almost ;  for  there  seemed  no  possible  mo- 
tive for  such  a  deed  on  the  part  of  the  person 
who  had  written  them.  Suddenly  the  unexpect- 
ed happened,  and  I  was  forced  to  believe  that  this 
woman  had  written  the  incriminating  letter. 

'I  immediately  took  a  train  for  her  home.  She 
answered  my  ring  at  her  door  and  greeted  me 
with  almost  hysterical  effusiveness.  "It  is  such 
a  relief,"  she  said;  "I  beg  you  to  stay  till  I  am 
composed.     I  have   a    horror    of    being   alone; 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  135 

such  a  blow  came  to  me  to-day.  I  was  in  my 
sewing  room,  when  it  seemed  as  if  a  great  weight 
fell  on  my  head  and  was  crushing  me  to  the 
floor,  and  I  was  filled  with  the  horror  of  an  un- 
known but  terrible  danger."  "When  did  the 
blow  fall?"  I  said.  "It  was  just  four  o'clock," 
she  replied.  That  was  exactly  the  hour  when  the 
conviction  of  her  guilt  came  to  me.  And  yet  she 
welcomed  me  who  had  forged  the  bolt.  So  you 
see  why  I  said  "Yes  and  no."  ' 

The  story  had  accomplished  its  mission.  The 
tension  was  removed. 

When  a  man  who  has  little  admiration  for  the 
sex  in  general  meets  a  woman  whose  character 
commands  his  respect  in  spite  of  her  womanhood, 
he  pays  to  her  an  earnest  courtliness  of  admira- 
tion that  cannot  fail  to  impress  through  the  lofti- 
ness of  its  sincerity.  As  the  Man  rose  to  leave, 
his  whole  being  showed  how  far  removed  were 
his  sentiments  from  the  pity  or  contempt  which 
had  been  her  daily  "bread  of  affliction." 

'May  I  ask  you  one  or  two  questions?'  he  said. 

'Most  assuredly;  a  whole  catechism,  if  you 
will.  I  would  be  sorry — should  you  let  me  come 
under  your  roof — if  there  was  a  question  you 
wished  that  you  had  asked,  yet  had  not  given 
me  an  opportunity  to  answer.' 

'You  were  married  quite  young?' 


13G  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

^Oli,  yes;  I  was  only  seventeen.' 
'And  your  wedding  was  a  quiet  one?' 
'Very  quiet.  You  see,  my  aunt,  who  brought 
me  up,  had  daughters  of  her  own,  and  she  and 
they  made  me  jealous;  made  me  think  that  my 
Charlie  was  paying  attention  to  some  one  else; 
and  so  the  wedding  Avas  hurried,  so  that  we  could 
take  our  wedding  trip  in  his  holidays,  and  there 
wasn't  time  to  have  an  elaborate  wedding.' 

'Thank  you  for  the  answers,'  he  said,  while  a 
half  cynical  smile — unobserved  by  her — passed 
over  his  face.  Then,  handing  her  an  envelope,  he 
added :  'I  earnestly  desire  that  you  should  avail 
yourself  of  the  references  wliich  this  contains. 
On  the  face  of  my  card  I  write  the  names  of  those 
who  believe  in  me  and  trust  me ;  on  its  back,  the 
names  of  enemies.  You  will  probably  have  the 
good  sense  to  accept  neither  good  nor  ill  report 
without  qualifying  it  by  its  opposite.  The  "medm 
via  tntissima"  of  our  copy  books  is  as  safe  as  it 
is  old.' 

When  he  had  gone  a  few  feet  from  her  door, 
he  turned  as  if  mistaken  in  his  way.  But  there 
was  a  boy's  roguishness  in  his  heart  as  ho  caught 
her — by  a  sidelong  glance  from  the  tail  of  his  eye 
as  he  repassed  her  house — peeping  through  the 
slats.  Then  the  cynical  look  came  back  to  his 
face,  as  he  said  to  himself:  'Those  two  answers 
tell  me  all  of  the  circumstances,  all  of  the  influ- 


NAZABETH   OR   TABSUS?  137 

ences  that  made  the  child — not  the  woman — ac- 
cept this  weak  man.' 

'Oh,  my!'  and  her  fingers  went  up  and  played 
an  octave  on  the  back  of  her  head.  'I  caught 
him  looking  intently  at  my  back  hair.  I  hope  it 
is  all  right.  But  Avhat  funny  questions.  What 
difference  will  it  make  to  him  whether  his  house- 
keeper had  a  quiet  wedding  or  a  swell  one?' 

"Ex  pede  Hcrculcm"  would  have  been  his  an- 
swer had  she  asked  this  question  in  his  presence. 
By  and  by,  when  she  has  gained  his  confidence, 
and  he  uses  her  woman's  eyes  and  wit  to  aid 
him  in  his  studies,  she  will  learn  that  from 
words,  even  more  clearly  than  from  more  tangi- 
ble things,  there  can  be  developed  the  spectrum 
analysis  which  will  reveal  the  true  components  of 
the  ideas  that  the  words  express,  or  that  they  may 
be  intended  to  conceal. 

'But  this  fat  envelope ;  what  a  lot  of  references 
it  must  contain!  Does  he  expect  me  to  write 
to  all  of  these  people?  I  think  I  had  rather  not 
open  it,  but  take  him  for  what  I  felt  he  was  as 
soon  as  I  saw  him.' 

Her  curiosity,  however,  triumphed  over  her 
fear  that  maybe  some  one  would  write  unfavora- 
bly in  reply,  and  tell  her  that  he  was  a  bad  lot; 
then  she  cautiously  opened  the  envelojje. 

Nothing  had  been  said  by  either  in  regard  to 


138  'NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

her  salary-,  yet  here  was  a  sum  equal  to  the  yearly 
stipend  that  another  had  offered  her. 

Some  way  it  did  not  seem  indelicate  for  him 
to  place  in  her  hands,  or  for  her  to  receive,  the 
crisp,  clean  bills.  It  seemed  as  if  it  Avas  an  ear- 
nest of  the  wish  that  his  eyes  had  told  to  hers; 
that  he  should  be  found  worthy  that  she  should 
come  under  his  roof.  The  manly  thoughtfulness 
of  the  words  that  he  had  placed  in  the  envelope 
made  her  wish  to  burn  the  list  of  references — at 
least,  to  write  only  to  those  who  believed  in  him 
and  trusted  him.  And  that  is  just  what  she  did. 
He  told  her — each  word  and  phrase  presented 
with  consummate  delicacy — that  he  liked  her; 
that  perhaps  there  was  a  bit  of  selfishness  in  his 
hope  that  against  the  dark  background  of  her 
sorrow  it  might  be  vouchsafed  to  him  to  develop, 
in  the  home  he  knew  she  would  adorn  and  bright- 
en, such  a  picture  that  the  old  darkness  would 
be  only  a  fading  memory.  That  it  would  grieve 
him  if  she  came  oppressed  by  the  memory  of  ob- 
ligations which  the  suddenness  of  the  blow  had 
made  her  unable  to  discharge;  obligations  per- 
haps to  those  who  would  suffer — or  would  speak 
illy  of  her,  if  payment  was  not  made.  And  mny- 
be,  too,  there  were  keepsakes  that  she  wished  to 
recover.  This  letter  she  laid  away  among  tlie 
few  jewels  that  were  left  to  her. 

She  wouldn^t  have  been  a  real,  warm-hearted, 


'NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  139 

impulsive  woman  if  she  hadn't  curled  up  and 
had  a  good  cry ;  then  got  just  a  little  hysterical ; 
quickly  recovering,  however,  for  she  must  pay 
regard  to  the  references.  But  she  wrote  to  just 
as  few  as  propriety  would  permit,  and  waited 
for  the  answers,  oscillating  between  fear  and 
perfect  trust,  as  influences  came  from  without 
or  were  from  her  own  heart. 


2__[0  NAZARETH    OR    TARlSDSf 


XL 


Now  that  the  step  was  irrevocably  taken,  now 
that  in  only  half  an  hour  more  the  train  would 
stop  at  the  station  from  which  she  would  be 
taken  to  his  home,  there  came  an  irrepressible 
longing  to  return. 

She  felt  some  influence,  that  seemed  wholly 
outside  of  herself,  swaying  her  impulses.  She 
remembered  vividly — too  vividly  for  her  present 
peace  of  mind — the  tenderness  of  the  parting 
with  old  acquaintances. 

So  long  as  she  expected  to  remain  at  home 
they  were  only  formally  cordial.  But  when  they 
found  that  she  was  really  to  leave;  when  they 
knew  that  she  would  not  continue  to  be  a 
social  incubus;  no  longer  would  be  one  whose 
presence  was  to  be  apologized  for,  the  sense  of  re- 
lief may  have  deceived  even  themselves  into  a 
friendly  interest,  that  made  natural  the  warm  ex- 
pressions of  regret  at  parting.  The  profuse 
wishes  that  she  might  find  happiness  in  her  new 
position,  the  emphatic  approvals,  to  her  face, 
of  the  step  that  she  was  taking,  had  the  impress 
of  sincerity;  though  behind  her  back  each  Phar- 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  141 

isee  among  them  held  up  her  hands  in  thank- 
fulness that  she  herself  was  not  making  her 
home,  alone,  with  a  man  who  was  "so  well  pre- 
served." A  contrasting  phrase  that  women  are 
fond  of  using — when  they  suspect  that  their  own 
youth  is  showing  them  its  heels. 

And  worse  than  this:  more  serious  than  the 
deceptive  recollecting  of  the  few  bright  closing 
hours  of  the  life  which  she  had  left  behind — 
the  strange  forgetfulness  of  the  fear  of  ostra- 
cism that  had  made  every  meeting  with  old 
friends  a  source  of  anticipation  of  humiliation — 
she  began  to  dread  the  meeting  with  the  man 
whose  happiness  she  had  longed  to  have  in  her 
keeping;  the  hope  of  winning  whose  approval 
had  made  her  so  buoyant  that  her  own  joyous- 
ness  made  the  more  indifferent  farewells  seem 
considerate — even  kind. 

"In  his  power;  in  his  power,"  the  railway 
wheels  seemed  to  ring  out  continuously  and 
mockingly,  and  presently  she  would  have  worked 
herself  up  into  a  most  pronounced  case  of  'nerves' 
— that  would  have  impelled  her  to  do  something 
absurd,  so  morbid  was  she  becoming  in  her  dread 
of  meeting  him — had  not  the  train  soon  reached 
the  station  that  was  at  the  end  of  her  journey. 

Waiting  on  the  platform  till  the  bustle  of  ar- 
rival and  departure  was  over,  she  was  making 
her  way  toward  the  baggage  truck  when  she 


143  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

heard  her  name  called.  Turning  she  saw  two 
extended  hands  and  a  countenance  that  had  the 
exquisite  tenderness  that  only  sorrow  can  mold 
the  features  to.  The  face  was  set  in  rippling, 
iron  gray  hair,  and  the  motherly  gentleness 
of  expression  instantly  won  the  confidence  of  the 
distraught  woman. 

'Warmest  welcome  I  bring  to  you.'  The  voice 
was  as  earnest  as  it  was  tender.  'Our  dear 
friend  is  absent,  but  he  has  sent  me  to  find  you. 
His  man  will  take  all  the  care  of  your  luggage 
if  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  point  it  out.  Then 
dismiss  all  anxiety  and  let  me  care  for  you.' 

Strange  perversity  of  womankind.  The 
woman  so  cordially  welcomed  ought  to  have 
shown  profound  gratitude  for  the  thoughtful- 
ness.  She  ought  to  have  given  a  sigh  of  relief 
that  the  Man  was  conveniently  out  of  the  way, 
for  twenty-four  hours  at  least.  But  she  did  no 
such  thing.  She  only  answered:  'He  is  ab- 
sent!' and  relapsed  into  a  quiet  nursing  of  her 
sense  of  neglect,  because  he  had  timed  her  ar- 
rival on  a  day  when  he  would  be  away  from  home. 
By  and  by,  when  she  had  learned  him  better, 
she  recognized  that  it  was  a  delicate  thought- 
fulness  that  substituted  the  motherly  welcome. 
But  fortunately  her  curiosity  came  to  the  rescue 
of  her  good  manners — the  lapse  in  which  had 
only  amused  her  hostess — and  she  was  quite  her 


'MAZARETE    OR    TARSUSf  143 

natural  self  again  by  the  time  the  two  women 
had  entered  the  carriage  that  was  waiting  for 
them. 

No  distinguished  visitor  could  have  been  re- 
ceived with  more  consideration.  The  guest 
chamber  waited  for  her,  daintily  arranged  and 
fragrant  with  flowers. 

As  she  looked  at  herself  in  the  cheval  glass, 
she  said  to  her  reflection :  'Well,  you  were  a 
fool  and  no  mistake;  and  I  am  ashamed  of  you; 
and  if  you  had  any  sense  of  decency  you  would 
be  ashamed  of  yourself.  Go  right  downstairs 
and  tell  that  dear  angel  without  wings  that  you 
were  a  fool  and  deserved  to  be  punished  for  the 
bad  manners  that  you  showed  at  the  railway 
station.'  And  she  did  so;  putting  her  arm 
around  the  gentle  woman's  neck  and  kissing  her 
impulsively  as  she  made  her  confession. 

Everywhere  she  saw,  and  delighted  in,  the  evi- 
dences of  his  good  taste.  'Guest  I  am  to-night 
in  this  lovely  home,'  she  said  to  herself  exult- 
antly, 'and  its  mistress  to-morrow  and  many  to- 
morrows, and  maybe  on  and  on  till '     She 

stopped  and  her  face  grew  grave, — as  many  a 
time  thereafter  the  shadows  fell  on  it,  and  fell 
more  darkly  as  the  time  approached  when  she 
must  cease  to  be  free;  because  freedom  would 
come  to  'him.'     That  was  all  the  designation  she 


144  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS f 

ever  gave  in  her  heart  when  she  thought  of  the 
author  of  her  sorrow. 

But  the  call  to  tea  happily  came,  breaking  in 
upon  her  gloomy  forebodings.  Her  hostess — 
who  had  promptly  explained  that  she  had  come 
only  to  teach  a  little  of  the  tastes  of  the 
master — placed  herself  at  the  tea  tray.  As 
deftly  as  tastefully  she  made  the  function 
a  graceful  offering  up  of  incense  to  the  new 
priestess  of  the  lares  and  penates  of  the  house- 
hold; and  made  it  a  dignified  induction  to  her 
new  authority,  with  an  impressment  of  defer- 
ence that  assured  the  respect  of  tliose  over  whom 
the  honored  guest  was  to  have  authority. 

Then  memory  went  back  and  labeled  as  only 
an  ugly  dream  the  wild  vagaries  that  had  op- 
pressed her  at  her  journey's  close. 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  145 


XII. 

'Now^  my  dear  child,  sit  right  down  by  my 
side  on  this  comfortable  sofa  and  look  right  into 
this  blazing  wood  fire,  and  build  your  castles  in 
Spain  while  I  tell  you  about  this  man.'  She 
hesitated  a  moment  and  then  added  slowly  and 
piquantly,  'whom  you  love.' 

'I !  I  love!     What  do  you  mean?' 

'You  told  me  so.  You  put  your  arms  around 
my  neck  and  confessed  that  you  had  told  me  so.' 

'I  did  no  such  thing.  I  confessed  that  I  had 
been  discourteous  to  you;  that  was  all  I  said.' 

'And  you  were  discourteous — because!  And 
now,  dear,  I  am  asking  no  confession ;  only  giv- 
ing you  a  little  discipline  for  your  own  good ; 
teaching  you  to  be  less  impulsive,  though  I 
would  not  have  you  less  natural  and  sincere.  I 
believe  that  you  will  make  our  friend's  home  ever 
so  much  brighter  and  happier.  But  I  must  beg 
you  to  remember  that  there  are  other  eyes  just 
as  observant  as  mine,  though  not  coupled  with 
lips  so  discreet,  or  hearts  so  loyal  to  him  and  to 
you,  too,  for  the  sake  of  one  who  once  prevented 
a  great  sorrow  from  falling  on  me  and  mine. 


146  tiAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

'If  I  were  to  describe  bim  in  one  word,  I 
would  say  "cbivalrous."  Had  I  a  daugbter  wbo 
could  bave  filled  tbe  place  you  bave  taken, 
I  would  place  ber  bere,  gladly.  Hard  and  un- 
relenting be  is  to  bis  enemies;  and  they  are 
those  whose  evil  deeds  or  heartless  acts  his  firm 
hand  has  repressed  or  punished.  The  soul  of 
loyalty  to  bis  friends,  or  to  any  cause  that  he 
espouses,  it  may  be  that  he  is  a  shade  too  reek- 
less  as  to  consequences — but  never  unjust — to 
win  success ;  for  he  is  a  stranger  to  fear. 

'Himself  untiring,  giving  his  best,  he  expects 
faithfulness;  yet  exacting  less  from  others  than 
be  does  from  himself;  and  he  is  considerate. 
Frank,  where  frankness  is  due,  yet  by  nature 
secretive,  he  has  no  patience  for  curiosity,  and 
will  not  brook  it.  He  regards  it  as  among  the 
grossest  of  insults. 

'His  enemies  will  tell  you  that  be  is  not  a  saint ; 
but  I  am  sure  that  no  man  or  woman  ever  left 
him  with  less  of  purity  than  he  found  them 
possessed  of;  while  more  than  one  despairing 
soul  has  taken  hope  and  courage  and  has  bad 
tbe  firmness  to  continue  in  tbe  better  way  which 
his  kindliness  prompted  bim  to  provide.  And 
they  were  steadfast  in  that  way,  because  they 
knew  that  bis  strength  would  supplomont  their 
weakness,  and  that  they  could  regard  bim  ns;  a 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  147 

faithful  protector.     Can    I  tell    you    anything 
more?' 

'Oh,  yes;  lots.     How  can  I  make  him  happy?' 

^h,  now!  Did  ever  a  woman  really  wish 
to  make  any  one  happy,  and  her  womanly  in- 
stincts not  show  her  the  way — if  she  is  faithful 
to  them?  But  this  single  suggestion  will  per- 
haps be  inclusive  of  much.  Let  him  see  that  you 
wish  to  make  home  restful.  The  rest  of  quiet 
— if  he  is  oppressed  with  thought;  the  rest  of 
your  real  buoyancy,  if  he  is  only  fatigued.  And 
above  all,  do  not  let  him  feel  that  you  expect  him 
to  be  always  entertaining.'  So  the  evening 
passed. 

The  sensations  that  come  to  us  on  our  awak- 
ening on  the  first  morning  of  a  new  arranging 
of  our  lives  have  decidedly  the  flavor  of  our 
having  become  some  one  else.  Out  of  these  con- 
fused sensations  the  new  mistress  of  the  house 
was  pleasantly  called  by  the  beauty  and  per- 
fume of  the  flowers  which  he  had  so  thought- 
fully provided,  and  which  she  had  placed  by  the 
side  of  her  pillow. 

The  first  day  was  full  of  interest,  in  tactfully 
taking  the  measure  of  the  servants.  She  re- 
membered, too,  the  advice  of  the  evening  before : 
to  make  a  division  of  duties  to  each,  clearly 
naming  those  that  she  reserved  for  herself;  and 
to  do  this  promptly,  before  a  degree  of  famil- 


148  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f 

iarity  had  made  her  authority  less  unquestioned. 

IS'ight  was  falling  and  she  felt  a  pleasant  ex- 
hilaration as  she  looked  forward  to  welcoming 
him. 

'Home  at  last,  and  at  last  a  home  to  look 
forward  to  returning  to.'  He  came  in  with  a 
breezy,  eager  way,  like  a  school  boy  just  in  for 
the  holidays.  He  did  not  wait  to  remove  his  top 
coat,  but  sought  her  out  at  once  and  extended 
his  hand  with  a  sincere  cordiality  that  made  her 
at  ease.  'I'm  hungry  as  a  bear;  and  after  din- 
ner you  must  tell  me  all  of  the  bad  things  that 
our  friend  said  about  me,  so  that  I  can  imme- 
diately begin  turning  over  a  new  leaf — any  num- 
ber of  new  leaves.' 

She  knew  what  he  meant.  'Well,  she  was  just 
lovely,  and  so  cordial,  and  gave  me  such  good 
advice  that  I  am  afraid  I  should  have  believed 
her  if  she  had  said  bad  things  about 
you.  But  dinner  is  ready  and  you  must  go  at 
once  and  get  ready,  for  you  men  will  irot  forgive 
a  cold  dinner — even  if  the  fault  is  yours.' 

She  listened  till  the  sound  of  his  steps  ended 
at  his  own  room.  "He  never  had  a  sister.  He 
shall  know  what  a  sister's  love  is  if  I  have  power 
to  bring  it  to  him.' 

As  they  were  ready  to  part  for  the  night  he 
led  the  way  to  his  library  and  opened  the  safe. 

'Here    are    duplicate    keys    for    you.     This 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  149 

drawer  is  yours.  From  it  make  all  disburse- 
ments for  the  household — and  deal  with  your- 
self as  generously  as  you  would  deal  with  me  if 
conditions  were  reversed.  I  shall  ask  no  ac- 
counting. Good  night.'  He  took  her  hand  in 
both  of  his  for  a  moment ;  then  left  the  room  too 
abruptly  for  any  thanks. 

The  tears  came  into  her  eyes  as  she  recalled 
his  exjn'ession  of  confidence — his  delicate  avoid- 
ance of  anything  that  would  be  like  making 
terms  with  a  servant.  But  she  was  too  happy 
for  tears,  even  of  gratitude,  to  be  lasting;  and 
tossing  the  keys  in  the  air  with  a  child's  glee  she 
said,  There's  just  one  man  in  this  w^orld,  and  if 
I  don't  make  him  the  happiest  man  that  ever 
lived  in  it,  then — may  I  lose  these  keys,  and  to 
another  woman  at  that.' 

As  the  months  passed  by,  her  recognition  of 
his  strength  grew  apace ;  and  she  grew  into  rest- 
fulness  in  it.  'Maybe  there  will  be  no  ending; 
what  he  attempts  he  accomplishes.  I  will  trust.' 
It  was  trust  only;  for  she  did  not  dare — did  not 

care  to  consider  how.     She  had  learned  to  rest. 
****** 

Was  it  something  akin  to  weariness  with 
"Aristides  the  Just"  that  at  last  brought  to  this 
placid  home  life  a  disturbing  influence?  Only 
a  woman's  love  of  power.  No  wish  to  hold  his 
shorn  locks  in  her  lap.    Only  the  desire  to  com- 


150  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

mand  his  admiration  for  her  womanhood.  Sim- 
ply to  dominate  his  calm,  strong  self-possession, 
and  sway  it  in  yielding-  recognition  of  her 
charms. 

These  were  the  thoughts  that  prompted  her  to 
burst  upon  him  in  all  the  loveliness  that  she 
could  command.  'Admire  me ;  tell  me  I  am  beau- 
tiful.' This  was  what  the  snowy,  heaving,  "half 
concealed,  half  revealed"  bosom,  and  the  grace- 
ful outstretched  arms  were  pleading  for.  Just 
an  hour  of  a  woman's  triumphant  power,  won 
through  his  love  of  the  beautiful,  was  all  that 
she  asked,  as  she  stood  before  him  in  the  uncon- 
scious temptation  of  her  charms. 

Oh,  Temptation,  subtlest  when  you  come  and 
tell  us  that  we  are  strong,  and  that  we  can  safely 
harbor  you;  bidding  us  the  while  show  to  our- 
selves and  to  the  world  that  we  can  treat  you  as 
a  plaything. 

And  she  did  win  his  admiration.  Never  could 
he  forget  how  radiant  she  was,  standing  between 
the  parted  portieres,  that  made  effective  setting 
of  her  loveliness.  Never  would  she  forget  how 
she  swayed  him.    He  stood  silent  a  moment. 

'You  are  beautiful  to-night,'  impressively, 
calm  and  low.  Then  a  deep  gasp,  a  quivering  of 
the  hands,  their  palms  turned  outward  as  if 
pleading  for  possession.  It  was  over  in  a  mo- 
ment.   The  tempter  had  passed;  for  before  the 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  ISl 

shadow  came  over  his  face,  before  the  out- 
stretched arms  fell  passively,  before  he  had  ut- 
tered the  words  that  filled  her  with  shame  for 
many  a  day,  his  good  angel  had  flashed  out  from 
memory  her  warnings.  He  saw  faces  of  men 
who  had  "renewed  their  youth"  and  came  to  him 
haggard  and  appalled  at  the  povrer — and  its 
brutal  use — that  their  temptresses  held  and  ex- 
erted ;  beseeching  him  to  interpose  his  iron  hand 
and  deliver  them.  And  clearer,  perhaps  because 
nearer,  the  face  of  one — she  seemed  to  his  ripe 
manhood  hardly  more  than  a  child — who  had 
come  to  him,  the  bitterness  of  death  swallowed 
up  in  the  terror  of  the  shame  she  would  bring 
to  her  home,  and  in  the  horror  of  the  curse  in 
her  motherhood  that  she  would  inflict  on  the  lit- 
tle life  to  be.  Again  there  came  to  him,  sounding 
like  the  funeral  knell  of  hope,  the  stony,  hard 
appeal  of  her  hopelessness — all  the  more  pa- 
thetic that  its  calmness  was  the  icy  strength  of 
a  frozen  heart :  'I  have  engaged  a  position  as 
companion  to  a  lady  going  abroad.  It  will  be 
easy  to  reach  too  far  over  the  stern  to  recover 
my  hat.  The  great  deep  ocean  will  never  give 
up  my  ugly  secret.  My  belt  of  shot  will  save 
me  from  rescue.  I  don't  feel  quite  prepared  to 
die;  but  I  have  no  choice — unless  you  can  save 
me.    Will  vou?' 


152  NAZARETH   OR   TAR8US? 

'Three  months'  income  for  a  life — two  of 
them' ;  this  to  himself ;  and  to  her  he  said,  'Yes.' 

'Beautiful !  How  your  husband  would  admire 
you!'  Had  the  hands  that  had  fallen  that  mo- 
ment to  his  side  been  raised  and  struck  her  in 
the  face  she  would  not  have  recoiled  more  from 
the  blow.  Her  face  grew  almost  ashen  from  the 
shock,  as  she  clutched  the  portieres  for  support, 
hiding  her  horror  in  their  folds.  Then  suddenly 
she  relaxed  her  grasp,  gave  him  one  look  that 
was  beseeching  and  reproachful,  and  Hed  to  her 
room. 

It  was  a  cruel  kindness.  Perhaps  the  sur- 
geon's knife  need  not  have  cut  quite  so  deeply, 
but  it  was  an  emergency  case;  there  was  no  time 
to  calculate  closely. 

She  almost  tore  her  lovely  costume  to  shreds 
in  her  bitter  haste  to  put  it  away  from  her.  She 
had  planned  with  such  care  to  make  herself  beau- 
tiful in  his  eyes;  his  only.  It  had  been  such  a 
joy  in  its  conception  and  execution.  So  many 
times  she  had  rearranged  it.  It  must  be  perfect, 
for  it  was  for  him,  and  now  it  lay  before  her,  as 
thorough  a  wreck  as  was  the  joy  she  had  tasted 
for  a  moment.  Through  that  long  night  she  lay 
sleepless,  bitterly  moaning  till  too  exhausted  to 
think,  almost  to  feel. 

'The  wife  of  a  thief.  Bound  "to  love,  honor 
and  obey  till  death  us  do  part."     Shut  out  from 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  153 

human  love,  how  can  I  believe  even  that  God 
loves  me?  Yes,  "till  death  us  do  part";  not  his 
death,  but  mine.  "Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quick- 
ly." He,  the  only  man  I  ever  met  that  was  worth 
living  for,  he  struck  me  with  those  cruel  words. 
Did  he  think  that  I  am  only  a  child?  Did  he 
think  that  I  hadn't  power  enough  to  command 
myself,  if  those  strong  arms  that  longed  for  me 
had  really  taken  me?  But  he  did  love  me;  just 
one  little  minute  he  loved  me,  and  it  cost  him, 
oh,  such  an  effort!  I'm  glad  it  cost  him  such  a 
struggle.  I  can  forgive  him  for  the  sake  of  that 
inward  battle  where  he  had  to  strike  me  to  end 
this  fight  with  himself.' 

And  so,  between  the  brief  flashes  of  the  rays 
of  that  one  moment  of  triumph,  and  the  dark, 
pervading  clouds  of  the  humiliation  which  was 
not  of  her  own  doing,  the  weary  night  passed 
on. 

And  do  you  suppose  he  thought  that  she  was 
'only  a  child'?  Well,  that  treacherous  "little 
god  without  breeches,''  the  roguish  child,  Eros, 
nestles  so  innocently,  and  you  watch  his  baby 
face  in  your  bosom;  and,  lo,  he  has  changed  be 
fore  you  know  it;  and  he  has  grown  to  Amor, 
and  he  takes  you  in  his  strong  arms,  bearing  you 
whither  he  listeth. 

The  thickest  pall  of  sorrow  must  lose  a  degree 
of  its  oppression  when  the  exhilarating  rays  of 


154  VAZIRETU    OR    TARSUS? 

the  rising  sun  fall  upon  it;  the  sombre  night  is 
at  last  ended. 

She  wondered  why  he  left  the  house  so  early. 

Presently  he  returned  and  she  heard  him  come 
softly  to  her  door,  and  as  she  listened  there  came 
a  sound  like  a  faint  rap,  but  too  soft  to  have 
awakened  the  lightest  sleeper;  then  she  heard 
him  quietly  returning  to  his  library. 

Curiosity  suggested  to  Sorrow  that  it  step 
aside  a  moment  till  the  cause  of  that  sound  had 
been  investigated.  Curiosity  opened  the  door  a 
little  and  in  fell  a  box  of  flowers — a  whole  arm- 
ful of  them.  And  with  them  such  a  tender  let- 
ter. The  blame  was  Avholly  his.  He  had  been 
selfishly  inconsiderate.  Could  she  ever  forgive 
him?  He  had  been  so  happy  in  his  home;  she 
so  buoyant,  or  so  considerately  unobtrusive,  as 
his  mood  or  need  required,  that  he  had  forgotten 
the  long,  uneventful  days  filled  with  cares  that 
were  only  repetitions  of  each  other.  He  won- 
dered that  the  dreary  monotony  had  not  made 
hor  a  candidate  for  a  strait-jacket.  He  would 
send  hor  off  on  a  holiday^  hating  Mrs.  Grundy  all 
the  while  that  ho  could  not  go  with  hor,  that  he 
might  see  all  the  bright  things  through  her  eyes. 
She  must  drive  out  every  pleasant  day ;  the  horses 
needed  the  exercise.  She  must  'go  out'  more. 
And  lie  closed  with  more  self-reproach,  bogging 
her  to  wear  to  breakfast  a  few  sprays  of  his  fa- 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS t  155 

vorite  lily  of  the  valley  in  token  of  her  forgive- 
ness. 

This  she  did  and  entered  the  breakfast  room, 
very  busy  in  arranging  another  bunch  that  she 
might  go  straight  to  him  and  fasten  it  in  his 
button  hole,  thus  sparing  herself  the  embarrass- 
ment of  looking  so  high  as  his  face  in  the  morn- 
ing greeting,  while  he  read  aloud,  with  apparent 
intense  interest,  an  item  from  the  morning  paper. 
She  knew  the  article  was  so  foreign  to  his  real 
interest  that  the  ludicrousness  of  his  awkward 
attempt  to  relieve  the  embarrassment  of  the  situ- 
ation appealed  irresistibly  to  her  appreciation 
of  the  funny.  She  burst  into  such  shouts  of 
laughter  that  he  began  to  edge  away  towards  his 
hat  and  top  coat,  fearing  a  display  of  hysterics 
would  follow,  but  feeling  even  that  would  not  be 
too  high  a  price  for  escaping  the  dreaded  awk- 
wardness of  their  meeting. 


156  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f 


XIII. 

'  "How  are  the  mighty  fallen."  Can  it  be  that 
this  is  the  same  man  who  rebuked  me  so  piti- 
lessly because  I  came  to  him  and  sought  his  ad- 
miration? Was  it  not  enough  to  have  come  be- 
hind my  chair  and  whisper  to  me  to  meet  him  at 
ten  o'clock  to-night  in  his  library — yet  in  not  so 
low  a  tone  but  that  the  handsome  maid  heard  him 
and  looked  her  triumph  over  me?  Was  not  this 
enough,  without  his  asking  me  to  give  him  the 
photograph  of  that  pretty  maid — and  all  this  in 
his  own  house?'  Her  idol  was  only  a  man  after 
all;  he  had  fallen  from  his  pedestal,  and  she  did 
not  know  whether  most  to  pity  him  or  despise 
him. 

But  she  obeyed  him,  and  was  chagrined  beyond 
measure  that  the  contempt  she  felt — and  em- 
phatically expressed  in  her  manner — was  ap- 
parently unobserved  by  him,  though  she  noticed 
his  evident  satisfaction  as  she  gave  him  the  girl's 
picture. 

'Please  send  Osborn  to  me.     T  almost  forgot 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  157 

to  thank  you  for  the  picture.'     He  certainly  was 
very  much  absorbed  in  it. 

As  Osborn  entered  he  said: 

^Now,  my  dear  fellow,  you  said  you  wished  to 
go  to  your  club  to-night.' 

'Yes,  I  would  like  to  go;  but  if  I  can  be  of 
service  to  you,  I  will  gladlj^  give  it  up.' 

'So  far  from  your  staying  away  for  me,  I 
should  be  sorry  if  you  did  not  go.  You  told  me 
that  there  was  to  be  a  little  supper  at  your  club. 
At  the  proper  time  take  this  envelope  from  your 
pocket,  saying  that  it  was  received  from  a  friend, 
and  you  don't  know  what  is  in  it.  Open  it  and 
pass  its  contents  around  for  comments.  Tell  me 
what  you  learn ;  but  don't  come  to  me  till  morn- 
ing.' 

****** 

'Let  me  have  a  game  of  chess  with  you.' 
She  saw  that  the  pieces  were  set  and  that  the 
Man  was  seated  at  the  table,  as  she  entered  the 
library  at  the  hour  he  had  named.  He  welcomed 
her  without  looking  up.  It  was  so  unlike  his  for- 
mer self. 

'I  hope  to  show  you  some  new  moves  to-night,' 
he  added.  The  play  had  lasted  perhaps  twenty 
minutes,  and  she  was  sure  that  she  held  the  ad- 
vantage, when  he  almost  hissed  'Checkmate.' 
'But  you  needn't  strike  the  table  so  hard  and 
nearly  upset  the  pieces,'  she  said. 


158  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 

He  made  no  answer,  softly  rising;  and  as  he 
looked  into  lier  strained  face  he  was  glad  that  the 
test  was  over.  Noiselessly  approaching  the 
door,  he  quickly  opened  it. 

'What  are  you  here  for?'  The  girl  stood  para 
lyzed,  but  stammered  out  in  reply : 

'I  thought  you  wished  me  to  wait  up  till  Os- 
born  came  in.' 

'Then  sit  there.'  He  pointed  to  the  place 
where — in  the  now  unlighted  hall — a  chair  usu- 
ally stood,  and  quickly  closed  the  door.  As  the 
girl  came  to  the  floor  with  a  heavy  fall,  he 
I)ointed  laughingly  to  the  hall  chair,  now  within 
the  library. 

'And  the  last  move  of  the  game.  Listen!  I 
was  sure  that  the  hard  floor  would  astonish  her 
into  the  "flight  that  is  confession." 

The  girl  had  picked  herself  up,  groped  her 
way  through  the  dark  hall  and  was  rushing  to 
her  room,  her  noisy  steps  impelled  by  anger  and 
chagrin. 

'The  "last  move"?  Yes ;  yet  I  feel  that  the  last 
move  should  be  my  going  down  on  my  knees,  for 
my  distrust  of  you.  For  all  the  while  that  I 
doubted  you  you  were  arranging  a  punishment 
for  her,  because  you  saw  that  she  was  insulting 
me  by  hor  bnse  suspicions.' 

And  he  replied :    'Your  heart  is  kneeling  and 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS r  159 

pleading  so  charmingly  that  I  can  ask  for  noth- 
ing more.' 

Through  tears  she  looked  up  laughingly,  as 
she  put  out  both  her  hands  and  said:  'Good 
night ;  and  if  you  catch  me  again,  base  deceiver, 
it  will  be  I  that  will  have  "the  last  move."  I  will 
find  a  way  to  checkmate  you.' 

'You  have  had  your  lesson?'  he  asked. 

'Lesson?  a  whole  curriculum;  graduated  and 
entitled  to  a  diploma.' 


'I  hope  that  you  have  recovered  from  your  fall 
of  last  night.'  There  was  nothing  mocking  in  the 
Man's  tones ;  they  were  very  business-like  in  their 
greeting  as  the  girl  entered  the  library  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning. 

'I  leave  your  house  to-day,'  the  girl  replied 
with  bravado. 

'And  you  will  go  to ?'      He  stopped,  and 

was  drawing  from  his  pocket  her  photograph. 

'I  don't  know  that  it  is  any  of  your  business 
where  I  will  go.'     This  even  more  defiantly. 

As  she  spoke,  he  was  coming  close  to  her,  and 
placed  her  picture  in  her  hands.  Osborn  had  let 
it  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  club,  and  it  bore  the 
marks  of  the  encounter.  She  glanced  down  at  it 
and  saw  an  address  at  the  bottom  that  had  not 
been  there  the  day  before.     In  an  instant  the 


160  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

bravado  left  her  and  she  stood  aghast.  She  hid 
her  face  in  her  hands. 

'Oh,  my  God,  will  my  shame  follow  me  wher- 
ever I  go?     I  meant  to  reform,  I ' 

'Stop,  Do  not  insult  that  almost  sacred  sen- 
timent with  such  a  lie.  You  stood  before  my 
door  last  night,  a  self-confessed  blackmailer.  I 
saw,  almost  as  soon  as  you  came  under  my  roof, 
your  base  desire  to  entrap  us,  and  I  knew  that 
if  I  gave  3'ou  the  right  kind  of  rope  you  would 
hang  yourself — and  you  did.' 

'Don't;  don't  call  me  by  the  awful  name  you 
just  named  me.  I  am  not  so  bad  as  that.  I 
would  not  have  taken  a  dollar  from  you.  Had 
any  one  else  attacked  your  characters  I  would 
have  defended  you.  But  I  saw  that  she  admired 
you,  and — you  know  the  school;  rather  I  hope 
you  don't  know  it,  in  which  I  have  been  taught ; 
where  we  learn  that  all  men  are  base  and  that  all 
women  are  weak.  You  were,  both  of  you,  kind 
to  me,  and  that  very  kindness  made  me  long  to 
be  on  equal  terms  with  you  both. 

'Consider  what  kind  of  a  home  I  had — no,  not 
home,  hutch.  Rabbits  know  as  much  of  what 
home  means  as  I  did.  My  mother  married  my 
father  because  he  was  a  handsome  animal,  and 
so  he  made  her  a  beast  of  burden.  There  I 
learned  every  foul  word  that  a  man  can  use  to  a 
woman.     Decency  was  a  stranger  there.     Why 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  161 

shouldn't  I  think  every  one  was  as  bad  as  he 
taught  me?' 

If  to  the  Man's  heart  there  came  a  degree  of 
pity,  it  was  a  pity  that  was  not  brightened  by 
hope. 

'Come.'  It  was  request  rather  than  command 
that  his  voice  expressed  as  he  led  the  way  to  the 
looking  glass.  'Look  at  the  picture,  as  if  it  was 
that  of  one  who  is  a  stranger  to  us.  Those 
largQ,  roving  eyes;  the  full,  ripe  lips;  the  de- 
velopment of  the  lower  face;  all  these  tell  men 
that  nature  has  won  half  the  battle  for  them; 
and  so  they  will  come  again  and  again  to  the 
contest,  where  your  past  has  so  little  to  offer  in 
aid  of  your  weak  impulse  to  do  right.' 

'But  I  pray  you  to  give  me  one  more  oppor- 
tunity to  save  myself.' 

'No;  not  here  at  least.  Here  there  would  be 
no  incentive  to  follow  in  the  better  way. 

'However,  I  will  send  you  to  a  lovely  old 
lady,  who  will  accept  my  statement  that  you 
came  out  of  a  home  that  had  only  evil  influences, 
and  she  will  be  kind  to  you  and  will  ask  no  fur- 
ther questions. 

'I  will  write  to  her  and  will  also  telegraph 
her,  so  that  by  no  chance  will  you  come  unan- 
nounced. If  you  really  desire  to  remain  under 
good  influences  you  will  have  the  opportunity  to 
save  yourself  from  yourself.' 


162  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

*I  will  show  you  that  I  value  your  kindness,* 
she  said. 

More  in  sorrow  than  in  a  spirit  of  cynicism  the 
Man  continued:  'You  will  make  her  lonely 
home  very  bright  till  the  novelty  of  the  new  posi- 
tion is  past.  Then — since  you  have  no  resources 
within  yourself — 3'ou  will  be  wear}'  of  the  un- 
eventful life;  3'ou  will  be  careless  in  your 
duties;  and  when  you  are  reproved  you  will  be 
petulant.  This  will  grow  as  your  ennui  in- 
creases, 

'Then  all  that  was  dreary  and  wearisome  and 
repugnant  in  your  stained  life  Avill  be  forgotten, 
and  you  will  remember  only  the  brighter  side — 
and,  oh,  how  winningly  the  devil  will  show  that 
to  your  weariness  of  goodness.  You  will  go  out 
only  to  take  a  little  look  into  the  dark  waters, 
just  out  of  curiosity,  and  your  feet  will  slip  on 
the  slimy  bank  and  you  will  be  engulfed. 

'It  is  not  a  pleasant  picture  for  me  to  draw — 
for  3^ou  to  see  yourself  portrayed  in.  But  I  hope 
for  nothing  better.  Yet  none  the  less  will  I 
welcome  j-our  drawing  a  lovelier  one — in  tones 
that  will  be  permanent.  Your  letters  can  con- 
tinue to  come  here.  No  one  need  know  where 
you  are.  I  will  provide  amply  for  your  journey. 
You  will  do  well  to  go  to-day.' 

And  when  she  liad  gone  he  mused :  'Is  it 
worth  all  the  effort — not  mine,  but  of  that  pure 


NAZARETH   O'R   TARSUS^  163 

soul  to  whom  I  am  sending  her?  "Handsome 
animal,"  she  said  of  her  father,  and  that  is  the 
quality  which  he  has  bequeathed  to  her.  No 
moral  impulse,  no  buttressing  of  purer  motive 
by  the  memory  of  home  and  loved  ones.  False 
love,  false  friendships  are  most  likely  to  come 
to  her  in  her  loneliness ;  and  she  has  lost — rather 
never  acquired  in  the  "hutch"  she  was  reared  in 
— the  delicacy  that  would  warn  her  against  such 
insidious  influences.  Yet  I  am  glad  that  she  re- 
coiled so  sharply;  glad  that  there  was  so  much 
of  good  in  her  that  she  rebelled  against  the  ugly 
charge  I  made  when  she  entered  here. 

'But  will  the  good  impulse  outlast  the  refine- 
ment that  God  gives  to  early  womanhood? 
Probably  not.  And  then,  kind  and  ignorant 
souls  bent  on  doing  good,  and  in  their  supreme 
ignorance  seeing  all  hearts  as  free  from  guile  as 
their  own,  will  come  to  her  and  such  as  she; 
will  mistake  the  weariness  with  the  slavery,  the 
chagrin  of  neglect  to  the  fading  charms,  for  sin- 
cere repentance;  will  clothe  the  seeming  peni- 
tents with  the  garb  of  respectability,  giving  them 
letters  of  marque  to  go  out  and  invade  homes  and 
work  the  silent  injury  which  their  ripened  judg- 
ment tells  them  can  be  effected  safely — because 
the  victims  will  never  dare  to  complain. 

'Better,  far  better,  that  she  become  the  sodden 
victim  of  alcoholism;  and  so,  content  in  stupor, 


164  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f 

the  world  will  be  spared  the  ravages  of  that  most 
dangerous  member  of  society — a  reformed 
woman. 

'But  where  is  the  primal  wrong  of  her  environ- 
ment— for  she  is  a  victim  of  conditions  into 
which  she  was  born?  Back  of  her  coarse  father, 
back  of  the  weak,  soulless  mother,  presumably 
we  must  look. 

'Will  a  better  civilization,  a  truer  Christian- 
ity, protect  childhood  from  ante-natal  curse?' 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSU8r  165 


XIV. 

At  first  the  end  seemed  so  far  away  that  the 
Tista  appeared  to  be  interminable.  But  at  length 
by  years  the  prisoner  counted  no  longer,  for 
months  were  the  milestones  that  marked  the 
dreary  procession  of  prison  life. 

And  when  there  came  the  time  when  only 
weeks  intervened  between  him  and  freedom. 
His  heart  grew  lighter  day  by  day. 

When  he  was  ready  to  leave  the  prison  there 
was  given  to  him  a  package.  It  contained  a  let- 
ter of  advice,  that  bade  him  not  to  return  to  his 
old  home,,  but  to  visit  some  large  city;  to  see 
everything  that  was  bright  and  entertaining 
there,  so  that  he  might  have  pleasant  topics  of 
conversation  when  he  returned  to  his  wife.  It 
urged  him  to  dress  well,  for  a  man  does  not  re- 
spect himself  if  he  is  not  well  dressed.  The 
writer  kindly  omitted  "when  he  has  nothing 
within  himself  to  respect." 

The  package  contained  sufficient  money  to  en- 
able him  to  avail  himself  of  the  advice. 

It  was  sent  from  the  city  of  his  disgrace,  and 
there  was  no  signature  to  the  letter. 

He  immediately  wrote  his  thanks  to  the  men 


16g  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf 

who  had  effected  his  ruiu.     They  concluded  that 
it  was  best  not  to  acknowledge  his  gratitude. 

He  wrote  to  his  wife,  telling  her  of  their  gen- 
erosity and  thoughtful  suggestions.  She  had 
already  written  to  him,  telling  him  to  come  to 
her  and  that  he  would  have  a  cordial  welcome. 

But  in  that  home  cheeks  had  grown  paler  and 
lips  more  firmly  pressed  as  the  time  for  the  part- 
ing approached.  Yet  this  only  in  aloneness.  In 
each  other's  presence  each  bore  a  brave  front, 
and  with  each  the  sorrow  was  hidden,  that  it 
might  not  bring  keener  pain  to  the  other. 

When  only  the  last  few  days  of  the  home 
life  remained  it  was  noticeable  how  much  of  his 
work  the  Man  found  he  could  do  at  home;  how 
frequently  he  needed  her  advice. 

At  length  there  came  the  last  evening  of  his 
stay  before  his  long  deferred  journey  was  begun. 

In  his  constant  thoughtfulness  he  had  recog- 
nized that  a  week  of  aloneness  would  make  the 
husband's  home  coming  more  welcome  to  the 
wife,  her  greeting  more  sincere  and  cordial.  But 
she  was  too  oppressed  to  recognize  this  consid- 
eration. She  had  hoped  that  on  this  last  evening 
he  would  tell  her — in  words  that  even  in  their 
calm  constraint  would  show  his  pain — of  the 
loneliness  to  which  he  looked  forward,  when  he 
had  returned  and  found  her  gone;  would  tell 
her  of  the  joy  she  had  brought  to  his  life,  of  the 


NAZARETH    OB   TARSUS?  167 

great  void  that  her  absence  would  create — and 
for  which  nothing  could  compensate. 

Just  like  any  other  evening  it  passed,  till  she, 
weary  of  waiting  for  the  words  she  would  have 
treasured,  made  excuse  and  went  to  her  own 
room. 

There  her  disappointment  and  vexation  found 
relief  in  tears,  which  only  displaced  these  sor- 
rows by  bringing  keener  pain.  Being  a  woman, 
she  put  the  worst  possible  construction  on  his 
reticence,  now  that  she  had  grown  morbid  in  her 
tears  and  solitary  brooding. 

It  was  all  plain  to  her  now.  He  had  expressed 
no  sorrow  because  he  felt  none.  He  did  not  like 
to  be  alone.  That  was  why  he  had  welcomed  her. 
He  would  miss  her  for  a  time,  but  probably  he  al- 
ready had  found  someone  else  who  would  make 
his  home  just  as  bright. 

And  she  reasoned  like  a  real  woman :  because 
she  admired  him,  every  other  woman  would  be 
glad  to  fill  the  place  she  was  vacating. 

Not  till  early  dawn  did  she  fall  asleep ;  and  as 
the  day  was  opening  there  came  a  faint  knock 
at  her  door  and  she  heard  the  rustle  of  a  note 
passing  over  the  threshold. 

Her  heart  was  too  weary  to  regard  these  noises, 
till  a  moment  later  she  heard  the  outer  door  close 
and  saw  him  passing  down  the  street.  She 
watched  him  till  he  passed  out  of  sight.    Then — 


168  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

having  actually  seen  him  alone;  no  evidence  of 
that  dreaded  woman  near  him — by  some  principle 
of  induction  which  no  man  can  understand,  she 
dismissed  her  gloomy  forebodings  and  opened 
the  note. 

In  it  he  begged  her  to  regard  his  last  request. 
He  told  her  of  the  comfort  it  would  be  to  him  in 
his  loneliness  to  feel  that  she  had  left  the  room 
with  every  possible  evidence  remaining  in  it 
that  she  had  occupied  it. 

He  begged  her  to  arrange  nothing;  to  leave  it 
exactly  as  this  note  found  it;  to  take  her  little 
ornaments,  but  to  leave,  just  as  it  happened  to 
lie,  everything  that  was  associated  with  their  last 
evening  together;  then  to  lock  the  room  and 
place  the  key  in  her  safe  drawer,  adding:  'x\.nd 
neither  room  nor  drawer  will  be  opened  till  you 
return — some  time  v\'ithin  four  years.  Till  then, 
let  me  feel  that  your  room  is  in  the  charming 
disorder  of  the  impress  of  your  presence — just  as 
if  you  had  left  it  for  a  moment's  absence.' 

She  regarded  his  wish.  Now  she  knew  that 
the  indifference  at  parting  was  not  real;  that  it 
veiled  regrets  that  could  not  be  expressed  under 
the  strange  conditions  of  their  leavetaking. 

When  at  last  she  wns  leaving  their  home,  aud 
with  her  husband  had  reached  tlie  street  door, 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f  169 

she  returned  alone  to  her  former  room  and  fas- 
tened on  the  door  a  card.    Its  inscription  was : 

^Bluebeard's 
Chamber  of  Horrors/ 

'There,  now;  if  that  dreadful  woman  should 
come,  she  will  be  just  dying  with  curiosity  to 
know  what  it  means — and  he  won't  dare  tell  her. 
And  maybe  then  she  will  be  jealous.  Wish  I 
could  see  his  face  when  he  reads  it.' 

At  the  breakfast  table  she  found  another  let- 
ter. It  told  her  to  go  with  her  husband  to  the 
metropolis;  to  make  themselves  so  well  acquaint- 
ed with  its  principal  streets  and  buildings  that 
they  could  claim  that  city  as  their  home. 

'Be  sure  to  be  able  to  speak  intelligently  of 
the  theatres ;  of  the  churches  you  will  probably 
be  little  questioned.  You  will  take  the  name  we 
decided  it  was  best  for  you  to  assume.  When 
ready,  go  to  San  Francisco.  I  enclose  the  card 
of  my  attorney  there.  He  will  give  you  the  direc- 
tions for  reaching  the  ranch  that  I  will  have  ar- 
ranged for  your  occupancy — leased  with  oppor- 
tunity to  purchase.  You  will  see  that  it  is  located 
so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  meeting  old  ac- 
quaintances.' Then  there  followed  earnest  as- 
surances of  the  sorrow  it  would  give  to  him,  if 


irO  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

any  need  came — or  even  any  opportunity  for  en- 
joyment— and  she  did  not  avail  herself  of  the 
means  that  would  be  always  at  her  command. 

When  her  husband  came  to  her  she  showed  him 
this  letter.  Dead  to  honor,  he  felt  no  humilia- 
tion that  one  who  had  saved  his  wife  from  want 
and  from  reflected  shame  should  thus  provide 
for  his  comfort — thus  providing  because  his  life 
was  indissolubly  bound  up  with  his  wife's  hap- 
piness. 

On  the  other  hand,  she  asked  to  see  the  letter 
that  had  come  to  him  in  the  prison.  She  glanced 
at  it  hastily,  then,  forcing  a  composure,  she  asked 
with  assumed  indifference:  'May  I  have  it  and 
keep  it?'  She  took  it  and  hid  herself.  When 
she  reappeared  her  eyes  had  marks  of  tears  and 
much  of  the  letter  was  illegible.  'Dear  heart, 
did  you  think  I  wouldn't  find  you  in  every  line 
of  this?  Did  you  suppose  your  tender  thoughtful- 
ness  could  be  hidden  from  me?  Poor  sinner;  let 
him  think  it  was  done  for  his  sake.  But  that  big, 
loving  heart  was  regarding  me,  only  me,  when 
this  was  written.     It  was  all  for  my  sake.' 

Three  years  have  passed.  Even  the  balmy  air 
of  Southern  California  could  not  bring  a  health- 
ful glow  to  the  cheeks  that  were  whitened  with 
more  than  prison  pallor.    The  prison  physicians 


"NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS?  171 

were  correct.     ''Not  more   than    four   years    of 
freedom  can  come  to  him — in  this  world.' 

As  the  end  drew  nearer,  and  the  strength  of 
manhood  faded  into  the  weakness  of  childhood, 
that  which  might  have  developed  into  true  man- 
liness displayed  itself.  Like  a  little  child  he 
pleaded  for  forgiveness,  and  asked  her  to  teach 
him  to  crave  pardon  from  the  Judge,  whom  he 
feared  might  not  regard  his  sin  with  the  same 
leniency  which  she  had  bestowed.  Asking  only 
for  tenderness  to  an  erring  child,  it  was  easy  to 
give  him  the  affection  due  to  a  repentant  child, 
and  so,  in  peace,  his  life  ended. 

'Within  four  years.  You  were  right.  May  I 
come?' — so  ran  the  telegram. 

And  when  she  comes,  and  they  look  into  each 
other's  faces,  each  heart  vibrant  with  fear  and 
with  loving  expectancy — fear  that  the  years  may 
have  made  the  other's  heart  less  constant  to  the 
old  faithfulness — and  she  receives  again  the  keys 
in  token  that  she  is  again  the  mistress  of  the 
home ;  and  she  leads  him  to  the  "chamber  of  hor- 
rors" and  shows  him  its  disorder,  on  which  the 
gathered  dust  is  evidence  of  how  sacredly  the 
lares  and  penates  have  kept  the  place  in  a  seclu- 
sion devoted  to  her  memory,  then 

Will  the  dignified  serenity  of  the  old  life  be 
resumed?    Will  there  still  abide  the  old  faith  in 


i:3  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS f 

each  other  which  existed  iinquestioninglj,  be- 
cause there  was  no  right  to  resent  a  fancied  vio- 
lation of  any  pledge?  Will  each  have  no  secrets 
from  the  other,  because  neither  will  be  oppressed 
by  the  thought  that  each  has  the  legal  right  to 
look  into  the  other's  thoughts?  Will  there  be  the 
same  generous  giving  of  self,  because  it  was 
wholly  a  free  gift — no  right  to  demand?  And, 
most  of  all,  will  there  be  the  old-time  thoughtful 
courtesy  that  power  delights  to  banish? 

Or,  will  they  go  the  way  of  the  world,  each 
to  be  reduced  to  a  fraction  of  two,  sacrificing 
that  noblest  condition  of  a  self-poised,  self-con- 
trolled individuality? 

If  it  is  this,  may  it  be  vouchsafed  that  a  little 
child  may  lead  them,  its  tiny  hands  blinding  them 
to  the  vista  of  the  dignity  and  devotion  of  the  old 
life. 


'NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f  173 


XV. 

Let  us  go  back  to  where  we  left  the  woman 
standing  triumphantly  at  the  threshold  of  the 
library. 

Triumphant  her  womanhood  had  the  right  to 
be,  since  its  "sixth  sense"  had  penetrated  his  con- 
sciousness and  had  read  there  that  he  wished 
her  to  come  to  him. 

'Yes,  you  are  right.'  Laughingly  he  yielded, 
yet  with  a  sort  of  awe,  as  he  regarded  that  strange 
power  that  he  knew  he  could  not  himself  com- 
mand. 

*I  did  want  you.  Now  take  this  chair,  which 
I  permit  no  one  else  to  use — and  so  you  are 
always  quasi  present,  though  if  you  often  exer- 
cise such  intrusive  power  as  you  have  been  guilty 
of  just  now  it  will  be  banished,  as  something 
eerie;  something  through  which  you  have  estab- 
lished a  weird  power. 

'Will  you  find  out  for  me,  as  early  as  you  can, 
who  is  the  regular  physician  in  the  family  of  the 
Rev.  James  Underwood?' 


174  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

'I  think  that  I  can  tell  you  now ;  at  least  I  have 
twice  seen  the  carriage  of  old  Doctor  Matthews 
at  the  clergyman's  door.' 

*My  dear  old  friend/  the  Man  replied,  as  his 
face  lighted  up  with  satisfaction,  and  then 
became  thoughtful  in  reminiscence. 

'Now,  please  remain  seated,  and  do  not  feel 
that  I  am  dismissing  you  abruptly  if  I  go  out  to 
enter  on  some  work  that  I  have  in  hand.' 

She  obeyed  him,  but  only  till  she  heard  the 
outer  door  close;  then  she  was  at  her  old  trick 
of  watching,  through  the  blinds,  his  soldierly 
bearing  and  buoyant  step.  But  he  never  caught 
her  peeping  again,  as  he  had  detected  her  after 
their  first  meeting.  He  had  rallied  her  so  un- 
mercifully on  her  maladroitness  that  she  did 
not  permit  him  to  have  another  opportunity  to 
turn  the  laugh  on  her. 


'What  use  can  such  a  picture  of  health  and 
vigor  have  for  an  old  doctor?  But  welcome,  most 
hearty  welcome,  I  give  you ;  come  right  into  my 
consulting  room.' 

'You  are  right,'  the  Man  replied;  'not  even 
to  a  "mind  diseased"  can  I  ask  you  to  minister. 
Yet  to  a  very  puzzled  mind  perhaps  you  can  af- 
ford relief.  I  wish  to  ask  you  a  few  questions: 
yet  if  I  attempt  to  exceed  the  bounds  of  profes- 


"NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  I75 

sional  secrecy  do  not  hesitate  to  ignore  my  in- 
quiries.' 

'Oh,  I  have  no  fear  of  your  transcending.  I 
can  conceive  of  no  question  you  may  desire  to  ask 
to  which  I  could  not  give  unreserved  answer.' 

'Thanks  for  the  assurance;  you  and  I  need 
have  no  prologues.  So  I  v.ill  ask  you  to  tell  me 
about  the  oldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Un- 
derwood. You  have  been  his  family  physician  for 
a  long  time?' 

'For  over  twenty  years;  ever  since  he  came 
here.' 

'Then  you  can  tell  me  of  her  lameness.  Is 
there  any  anchylosis  of  the  knee ;  any  wasting  of 
the  muscles  below  the  knee?' 

'Xone  whatever,  I  can  assure  you.' 

'And  is  the  articulation  at  the  hip  reasonably 
free?' 

'Reasonably  so.  Indeed,  except  for  the  short- 
ening of  the  limb,  and  a  slight  stiffness,  her  limb 
is  as  good  as  any  one's.' 

'I  am  glad  of  this  assurance ;  you  have  relieved 
my  anxiety,'  the  Man  replied. 

'Not  one-half  so  much  as  you  once  took  the 
weight  off  my  heart  when  shame  and  sorrow  were 
impending  to  a  family  that  was  dear  to  me.' 
The  fighting  face  came  and  settled  like  a  mask 
on  the  Man's  countenance,  as  he  remembered  the 


176  HiAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f 

details  of  the  incident  which  the  doctor  had  re- 
called. 

In  parting,  the  old  doctor  was  fairly  overflow- 
ing with  hajDpiness.  It  was  all  clear  to  him.  He 
honored  and  trusted  the  Man,  and  assured  him 
how  sincerely  he  wished  him  every  success  in 
his  efforts. 

He  loved  the  child — all  the  more  because  he  had 
been  powerless  to  prevent  her  deformity.  To  be 
sure  there  was  some  discrepancy  in  their  ages, 
but  seventy  regards  a  man  of  fifty  years  as  com- 
paratively young — in  defense  of  its  own  growing 
infirmities. 

In  the  Man's  perfect  vigor ;  in  his  power  to  pro- 
vide a  charming  home  for  the  penniless,  crippled 
girl,  he  felt  that  the  advantage  was  thoroughly 
on  her  side.  lie  would  do  all  that  he  could  to  ad- 
vance his  friend's  interest.  Later,  when  he  sang 
his  friend's  praises  in  her  home,  he  was  grieved 
to  find  that  his  tribute  was  received  so  coolly. 


NAZARETH    OR   TARSUSf  177 


XVI. 

'Fair  warning,  sir  knight!  If  you  crush  the 
tiniest  of  my  beloved  flowers,  you  must  dismount 
and  on  bended  knee  sue  for  forgiveness.' 

The  Man  knew  that  to  carry  out  his  plan  he 
must  have  a  woman's  aid;  a  woman  who  was 
able  to  keep  a  secret.  He  had  chosen  this  woman 
as  his  ally,  because  she  would  not  make  a  confi- 
dant of  the  husband  whom  she  had  estranged 
years  ago;  and  the  Man  felt  confident  that  his 
plan  would  not  be  generally  disclosed,  because, 
in  a  sympathy  the  husband  had  not  sought,  his 
friends,  especially  those  of  the  distaff  sex,  had 
made  her  position  almost  isolated. 

It  was  a  theory  of  the  Man  that  it  is  unsafe  to 
trust  a  woman  who  is  liable  to  fall  in  love  with 
her  husband.  He  felt  sure  that  of  such  peril  to 
his  confidence  there  was  no  danger  here. 

Beared  in  an  atmosphere  of  selfishness,  herself 
the  fruit  of  a  marriage  that  had  been  established 
for  the  sake  of  personal  advantage — on  either 
side — the  woman  whom  the  Man  had  taken  as  his 
ally  had  accepted  the  hand  of  the  handsome 
young  physician,  just  as  she  would  have  acquired 


178  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 

any  other  treasure  that  the  world  had  appraised 
as  valuable. 

Her  high  vitality,  that  bore  with  it  a  splendid 
flow  of  spirits,  at  first  had  made  unnoticeable 
her  vacuity  of  noble  sentiment.  In  the  hus- 
band's own  devotion  he  was  not  critical  of  her 
lack  of  tenderness. 

But  at  length  that  love  of  power  which  lies 
sleeping  in  all  of  us  till  opportunity  arouses  it, 
overcame  whatever  degree  of  tender  considera- 
tion she  may  have  felt  for  him.  It  was  a  keen, 
unholy  pleasure  that  filled  her  soul  as  she  saw 
him  turn  pale,  as  if  the  blood  had  gone  back  to 
his  heart,  while  an  appeal  for  pity  jileaded  in  his 
eyes  when  she  first  laid  bare  her  selfishness  and 
displayed  the  emptiness  of  her  heart. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  up  an  ideal :  not  readily 
does  a  noble  character  release  itself  from  its 
pledge. 

Had  she  been  as  skilled  as  she  was  pitiless  in 
marital  torture,  she  would  have  healed  the  wound 
and  nursed  the  stricken  love  back  to  life,  im- 
pelled by  self-interest  and  by  the  pleasant  antici- 
pation of  again  and  again  watching  him  quiver 
under  her  stinging  words.  But  she  was  lavishly 
wasteful  of  her  power;  too  engrossed  with  the 
joy  of  its  exercise  to  observe  that  the  blows  were 
falling  on  deadening  nerves. 

At  length — and  before  she  had  suspected  how 


-^AZABETH   OR    TAR8V8r  179 

rapidly  her  resources  were  waning — she  found 
herself  bankrupt  of  power. 

He  had  waited  patiently,  at  first  tenderly,  hop- 
ing that  it  was  only  a  passing  impatience;  and 
that  the  true  woman  whom  he  had  believed  he 
had  married  would  assert  herself,  and  that  she 
would  be  a  devoted  wife  when  her  better  self  had 
conquered  a  passing  impulse. 

At  last  he  ceased  to  hope  ;  and  when  she  found 
that  he  met  her  attacks  with  cynical  calmness 
her  chagrin  impelled  her  to  unbridled  bitterness. 
This,  and  her,  he  regarded  with  amused  indif- 
ference. She  was  drawing  against  'no  funds.' 
Her  resources  were  exhausted.  Then  she  came 
and  stood  over  him,  and  was  fast  forgetting  her- 
self in  her  passion  of  anger — at  herself — because 
she  had  squandered  her  power. 

He  rose  and  took  her  shoulders  in  a  vise-like 
grasp.  'Let  this  be  the  last  time  that  you  in- 
dulge in  such  an  exhibition.  If  in  future  your 
language  is  other  than  respectful — other  than 
you  would  use  to  a  man  for  whom  you  were  only 
housekeeper — I  will  give  a  lease  of  this  house  to 
people  who  will  enter  it  and  remain  here,  and 
who  will  meet  your  violence  with  its  equal  if  you 

try  to  remain.     I  will  go  to  the Hotel.     I 

shall  provide  rooms  for  you  adjoining  mine,  but 
my  man  will  see  to  it  that  you  do  not  enter  my 
apartments  unless  you  are  sent  for.    While  you 


180  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

remain  here  you  will  exercise  every  care  in  the 
management  of  this  house.  If  you  fail  to  do 
this,  I  will  establish  a  housekeeper  here  who 
will  be  sufficiently  muscular  to  protect  my  rights 
— and  her  own.  I  trust  that  you  will  recognize 
that  this  house  is  large  enough  for  each  of  us 
to  move  in  his  or  her  own  orbit,  and  that  these 
need  not  touch  each  other.' 

Loving  his  profession,  his  sincerity  impelling 
him  to  loyalty  to  every  obligation,  he  had  always 
been  devoted  to  duty.  Kow  it  was  no  longer 
only  duty  that  commanded  him.  Activity  in  the 
way  of  duty  was  his  'surcease  of  sorrow.'  The 
tenderness  that  another  might  have  lavished  on 
— at  least  divided  with — all  that  home  may  in- 
clude, he  gave  to  those  who  suffered.  No  de- 
mands were  too  frequent,  none  wearisome,  and 
more  and  more  he  grew  to  be  'the  beloved  physi- 
cian.' 

The  poor  found  in  him  a  considerate  friend; 
he  had  no  motive  to  acquire  money. 

Strange  and  blessed  alchemy  that  transmutes 
sorrow  into  the  soothing  balm  for  others'  pain. 

Faithful  to  household  duty  she  continued :  yet 
not  from  fear;  but  because  with  his  asserting  of 
his  masterful  self-command  she  entertained  a  re 
spect  for  him  such  as  he  had  never  before  com- 
manded. Then,  again,  cut  off  from  most  of  h(M' 
social  enjoyments,  her  home  became  more  im- 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS?  181 

l)ortaiit  to  her;  and,  most  of  all,  her  delight  and 
pride  were  in  the  magnificent  parterres  through 
which  the  Man  was  guiding  his  horse,  Avhen  the 
fair  challenger  sounded  her  warning.  Truth- 
fully he  could  compliment  her  on  the  charming 
picture  that  her  face  and  figure  made,  set  in  the 
window  draperies  that  matched  and  heightened 
her  attractiveness. 

*I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  lend  me  those 
handsome  shoulders — fairest  in  all  the  country 
side — that  over  them  I  may  do  a  kindly  act ;  for 
alone  I  would  be  powerless.  I  would  fail  utterly 
if  I  were  to  come  out  into  the  open  and  show  a 
man's  presence.  With  your  "woman's  wit"  and 
your  ingenuity  I  am  sure  of  success.' 

Her  face  told  him  that  the  conditions  were 
opportune;  and  it  delighted  him,  as  he  unfolded 
his  plan,  that  she  was  ready  to  co-operate  with 
him. 


182  VAZ ARETE   OR   TARSUS? 


XVII. 

One  week  later :  the  same  scene ;  the  same  pair 
of  kindly  plotters. 

'Well,  I  am  sure  that  you  are  eager  to  know 
all  about  how  your  plans  have  been  executed.' 

And  the  Man  replied:  'I  had  no  fears  that 
they  would  miscarry;  I  had  confidence  in  your 
skill  and  ingenuity.' 

'And  it  required  both  to  induce  the  mother 
to  allow  her  daughter  to  come  to  my  house.  I 
think  it  was  through  piquing  the  mother's  curi- 
osity that  I  succeeded. 

'When  I  invited  the  girl  to  take  a  drive  with 
me  she  wondered  why  I  insisted  on  her  putting 
on  one  of  my  skirts.  I  had  shotted  it  at  the  bot- 
tom. My  carriage  was  at  the  door  and  we  drove 
to  Milburn's,  where  I  had  sent  your  beautiful  gift 
and  my  saddle;  for  I  feared  my  girths  were  too 
old  and  weak.  I  had  no  thought  of  old  lame 
Duncan,  who  was  turning  away  from  the  curb, 
having  set  the  new  giiths,  just  as  I  had  helped 
the  girl  to  the  pavement. 

'  "Now  go  right  up  to  him  and  put  your  arms 
around  his  neck  and  tell  him  you  love  him,"  I 


Nazareth  or  tarsus?  Ig3 

said.  But  she  shrank  back  to  my  side,  and 
whispered : 

'  "Oh,  I  can't.  He  is  old  and  ugly,  and  besides 
every  one  would  see  me." 

'  "Oh,  you  dear  child ;  I  don't  mean  old  Dun- 
can; I  mean  your  own  beautiful  horse.  He  is 
yours,  yours  only ;  from  his  soft  brown  muzzle  to 
the  tip  of  his  handsome  tail." 

'She  looked  at  me  in  wonder  a  moment;  then 
threw  aside  her  cane  and  went  to  him  and  wound 
her  arms  around  his  neck,  kissing  him  and  call- 
ing him  all  pet  names. 

'I  explained  to  her  why  he  was  trying  to  find 
her  pocket;  and  when  he  drew  out  the  sugar 
that  I  had  placed  there  she  went  wild  with  de- 
light. It  was  evident,  right  then  and  there,  that 
they  would  be  the  best  of  friends. 

'  "Oh,  my ;  but  isn't  it  a  long  way  down  to 
solid  earth!  He  has  grown  two  feet  at  least, 
since  I  left  the  ground  for  his  back,"  she  said.  It 
was  evident  that  she  had  never  mounted  a  horse 
before.' 

'But  had  she  no  fear?' 

'Fear?  How  could  she  have  fear?  In  "the 
perfect  love  that  casts  out  fear"  she  thought  only 
of  her  newly  found  joy. 

'I  drove  by  her  side,  out  into  the  country.  She 
would  take  no  hints.  I  had  to  tell  her  plainly 
that  we  must  return;  that  her  horse  had  been 


184  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 

out  of  work  for  some  time  and  she  must  not 
overwork  him  at  first. 

*I  had  assured  myself  before  we  started  that 
her  shortened  limb  had  a  firm  grip  on  the  pom- 
mel of  the  saddle.  She  will  learn  quickly.  I 
seldom  had  occasion  to  correct  her  a  second 
time.' 

'I  can  compliment  you  on  your  skill  as  a 
teacher.  I  met  her  yesterday.  A  duchess  could 
not  have  been  more  haughty  in  her  bearing  when 
I  complimented  her  on  good  riding.  The  child's 
manner  told  me  that  her  father  does  not  regard 
that  which  passes  in  his  study  as  a  confidence  to 
be  respected;  and  for  this  I  am  most  sorry,  for 
his  own  sake.' 

The  woman's  face  grew  grave  as  she  resumed : 
'But  I  must  tell  you  of  what  followed  and  which 
moved  me  deeply. 

'On  our  return  she  had  dropped  off  the  skirt 
that  I  had  given  to  her,  and  as  she  placed  her 
hand  on  her  own — as  if  it  was  the  first  link  in  a 
chain  of  recollections — her  face  grew  strangely 
serious,  then  expressive  of  pain.  Impulsively 
she  came  to  me  and  knelt  with  hor  head  on  my 
lap.  And  then  she  confessed  to  me!  Think  of 
it;  to  me,  who  have  never  done  one  kindly  act 
except  it  amused  me!  To  me  that  pure  child 
poured  out  her  soul.  She  told  me  of  what  she 
called  her  awful  sin. 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS?  185 

*In  childhood  she  had  not  recognized  the  bar- 
ring from  joys  of  young  womanhood  that  her 
imperfect  limb  would  occasion.  But  of  late  she 
has  grown  to  this  recognition.' 

^I  understand/  the  Man  interposed.  'In  her 
father's  religious  philoso]3hy  there  was  no  com- 
fort for  her  but  to  believe  that  a  loving  Father 
had  brought  this  darkening  of  her  life  to  test 
her  faith;  it  taught  her  that  it  was  done  arbi- 
trarily, with  full  power  to  prevent  it,  if  He  had 
chosen ;  but  it  was  "part  of  His  divine  plan,"  and 
so  she  must  not  murmur.' 

'You  are  right;  and  her  whole  soul  has  risen 
in  rebellion. 

'  "I  was  growing  to  hate  God,"  the  girl  contin- 
ued. "I  could  have  borne  it  if  I  could  have  con- 
sidered only  myself;  and  could  have  regarded 
Him  as  I  would  regard  anyone  else  who  had  in- 
jured me.  But,  for  my  father's  sake,  I  must  ap- 
pear to  love  Him.  This  life  of  hypocrisy  was 
hardest  of  all.  It  made  me  hate  God  more  be- 
cause I  had  to  wear  a  mask,  for  father's  sake. 
The  time  came  when  I  must  go  to  the  comnij*- 
nion  seiwice.  I  pleaded  illness  and  so  avoided  it. 
But  another  communion  service  is  close  at 
hand.  My  heart  was  growing  harder.  I  knew 
God  would  punish  me — pernaps  forever — if  I 
went  to  the  communion  table,  even  though  I  did 
so  to  save  my  dear  father  from  pain.    And  this 


186  "NAZARETH   OR   TARSU8? 

made  me  hate  God  all  the  more.  I  would  not 
dare  to  take  the  sacred  emblems.  I  could  not 
grieye  my  blessed  father  by  refusal." 

^By  this  time  the  child  was  speaking  through 
sobs  that  the  memory  of  the  bitter  struggles 
had  produced.  She  was  silent  for  a  while — per- 
haps it  was  in  prayer — and  then  she  looked  up, 
smiling  through  her  tears,  as  she  calmly  and 
softly  resumed : 

'  '^But  now,  now  it  is  all  changed.  God  loves 
me.  Ue  does  love  me;  that  thought  was  filling 
my  heart  as  I  rode.  And  now  I  can  love  Him; 
and  I  will  love  Him,  and  it  may  be  that  the  best 
way  to  show  my  love  to  Him  is  by  enjoying  His 
gift  all  that  I  can ;  keeping  my  heart  full  of  grat- 
itude to  Him  for  the  beautiful  gift.  His  gift. 

*  "Next  Saturday  there  is  to  be  a  tennis  tour- 
nament at  Beatrice  Malcolmson's;  she  invited 
me,  so  kindly,  but  every  word  was  a  pain  to  me. 
A  nice  easy-chair  was  to  be  arranged  for  me  in 
the  best  place,  and  I  was  to  watch  the  sport  in 
which  I  could  never  take  part.  I  intended  to 
stay  away  if  I  could  find  an  excuse.  Their  sport 
would  be  mockery  of  my  weakness.  There  will 
be  no  excuses  now.  Now  I  shall  go — but  I  will 
not  go  among  them  as  a  helpless  girl  to  bo  cod- 
dled in  an  easy-chair,  for  on  the  back  of  my  dar- 
ling I  will  sit.  There  I  am  the  equal  of  any  of 
them,  for  while  he  is  just  as  gentle  as  can  be,  I 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf  187 

feel  that  I  could  sit  tight  if  he  was  a  bucking 
bronco." 

'Then  her  sweet  face,  that  permits  one  to  an- 
ticipate every  emotion  that  she  will  give  ex- 
pression to,  became  self-reproachful.  "I  have  not 
confessed  everything,"  she  said  with  penitent  de- 
mureness;  "and  I  have  learned  a  lesson.  Never 
again  will  I  believe  evil  of  any  one.  I  believed 
the  evil  that  they  told  me  of  you.  They  told  me 
you  were  hard  and  selfish;  that  you  made  your 
noble  husband's  life  a  miserable  one;  that  you 
did  not  love  him.  I  know  that  it  is  false;  God 
would  not  have  chosen  you — you  would  not  your- 
self have  obeyed  His  command — to  save  me  from 
my  awful  sin,  if  you  had  been  so  bad  a  woman 
as  they  told  me  that  you  were.  I  know  that  you 
are  good  and  kind.  I  know  that  it  is  only  those 
who  envy  you  who  have  said  such  cruel  words. 
I  love  you  and  trust  you,  and  I  will  come  every 
day  to  you  and  will  not  be  in  your  way;  I  will 
take  my  work  and  sit  in  the  stable  with  my  dar- 
ling." 

'  "Smoother  than  oil,  yet  be  they  very  swords,"  ' 
the  woman  quoted. 

'Every  word  that  she  spoke  of  love  and  trust 
stirred  my  inmost  spirit.  I  longed  to  throw  off 
the  mask  that  you  had  placed  on  me.  I  would 
have  done  so  had  I  been  free  to  act,  could  I  have 


188  NAZARETH    OR   TARSUS? 

done  so  without  thwarting  your  plans,  and  so 
doing  her  a  great  injury.  And  then  there  came  a 
gentler  mood.  Who  knows  but  that  it  was  her 
good  angel  that  was  calming  and  inspiring  me? 
I  longed  to  tell  her  the  truth;  to  tell  her  that 
one  who  was  really  kind  and  unselfish,  who 
loved  to  relieve  distress,  to  deliver  the  oppressed, 
had  given  to  her  this  new  treasure.  But  that  bet- 
ter spirit  bade  me  be  silent.  I  looked  into  that 
trustful  face  and  a  strange  calm  possessed  me. 
It  was  as  if  an  intelligence  above  and  beyond 
myself  was  dominating  my  mind ;  as  if  a  better, 
truer  self — and  more  real  than  the  self  that  I  had 
known ;  that  through  all  my  life  I  had  called  my- 
self— was  telling  my  unworthy  self  that  I  was 
not  my  own ;  that  I  was  not  free  to  act  as  my  im- 
pulse was  swaying  me.  Told  me  that  in  the  fabric 
of  the  child's  new  faith  my  uuworthiness  had 
been  builded  in,  and  that  lie  who  builded  had 
chosen  my  unworthiness  that  He  might  glorify 
it  through  FT  is  abounding  grace. 

'In  the  sweet  serenity  of  this  new-found  con- 
sciousness of  a  nobler  self  than  ever  I  had  longed 
for  I  took  the  child  in  my  arms  and,  resting  her 
head  on  my  shoulder,  drew  her  to  my  heart  as  I 
had  never  folded  any  one.  Then  I  said :  "^/y 
child,  to  each  of  us  has  come  to-day  a  glorified 
illumination  of  our  better  selves;  with  each  heart 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf  189 

beating  close  to  the  other  let  each  make  dedica- 
tion of  that  better  self,  in  quiet  self-com- 
munion." ' 

Then  the  woman  was  silent,  her  high  resolve  en- 
nobling her  face  that  was  turned  to  him  with  an 
expression  of  entreaty.    Presently  she  resumed : 

'I  am  not  accustomed  to  asking  favors;  unac- 
customed to  seeking  help.  But  it  is  not  for  my 
own  sake  that  I  ask  your  aid.  Help  me  to  be 
what  this  child  believes  me  to  be.  I  cannot  live 
a  lie  to  her.  Yet  it  is  my  thought  for  her  that 
makes  me  dread  that  I  should  be  iconoclast, 
and  myself  cast  down  the  image  that  you  and  I 
have  permitted  her  to  believe  is  worthy  to  repose 
faith  in. 

'I  am  sadly  conscious  that  it  is  only  an  image 
of  earth,  earthy,  yet  you  know  that  you  are  more 
guilty  than  I  for  the  setting  up  of  it.' 

Then,  as  the  story  of  Pygmalion  and  Galatea 
was  recalled,  archly  she  said:  'Can't  you  pray 
to  Aphrodite — your  enemies  say  that  you  worship 
her — and  beseech  her  to  make  this  graven  image 
become  a  real,  true  woman  ?  I  would  ask  no  fur- 
ther parallel,  for  I  am  too  good  a  friend  of  yours 
to  permit  you  to  follow  Pygmalion's  example  and 
to  marry — even  if  she  were  free — such  "a  bad 
lot"  as  the  graven  image  would  be,  if  only 
Aphrodite  vivified  her.' 


190  NAZARETH    OR   TARSUSf 

Trivial,  insincere;  the  noble  motive  shown  to 
be  only  an  impulse.' 

Thanks,  ingenuous  reader,  for  your  confession. 
For  you  have  told  us  that  you  have  never  experi- 
enced the  joy  of  rising  to  an  exalted  purpose;  the 
very  purity  of  motive  inspiring  fear  that  a  less 
noble  past  may  darken  the  lustre  of  the  cause  es- 
poused. 

You  tell  us,  too,  that  in  j^ou  is  no  sympathy 
with  the  sensitive  recoiling  of  a  new-born  noble- 
ness from  any  outward  expression;  and  so  you 
cannot  accept  her  play  of  fancy,  as  only  the  mod- 
est sheltering  of  the  purer  motive,  till  she  is  sure 
that  it  will  meet  a  responsive  sentiment. 

Fortunately  he  whom  she  addressed  was  a  skill- 
ful student  of  expression,  and  so  the  lighter  veil- 
ing of  her  language  made  the  sincerity  of  her  mo- 
tive only  the  more  apparent.    So  he  said : 

'But,  really,  I  cannot  permit  you  to  take  no 
credit  to  yourself  for  the  peace  that  came  to  the 
child  through  the  joy  that  you  and  I  have  been 
permitted  to  bring  to  her.  Vividly  and  gratefully 
I  shall  always  remember  your  willingness  to  help 
me  in  bringing  that  joy  to  her.' 

Almost  as  warmly  as  if  she  were  defending 
herself — so  eagerly  her  better  nature  was  protest- 
ing against  any  deception  even  through  silence 
— U\Q  woman  answered: 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  191 

'And  why  shouldn't  I  have  helped  you?  You 
complimented  me  so  tactfully ;  you  sat  your  horse 
like  a  centaur ;  you  presented  the  plan  with  skill- 
ful appeal  to  my  love  of  acting  a  part  which 
Avould  make  my  enemies  admit  that  I  had  gen- 
erous qualities — and  you  didn't  suspect  the  pres- 
ence of  another  ally  that  was  aiding  you.  It  was 
my  contempt  for  her  mother. 

'She  is  a  Pharisaical  old  cat ;  and  I  knew  that 
I  would  enjoy  sending  the  child  home,  singing  my 
praises,  daily,  to  the  mother  who  must  endure 
them  for  the  continuance  of  the  happiness  that  I 
would  be  bringing  to  her  daughter.'  This  with 
a  warmth  which  was  intenser  than  mere  retrospect 
would  quicken  to. 

Back  again  to  earth  you  have  fallen,  fair  peni- 
tent. Icarus-like,  your  wings  have  failed  you, 
as  again,  and  "time  and  again,"  they  will  fail 
you.  Not  from  a  glowing  warmth  without  will 
the  lesion  come,  but  relaxed  by  unguarded  fires 
within,  because — you  are  a  daughter  of  Eve. 

'You  asked  a  little  while  ago  that  I  help  you  to 
be  really  what  the  child  believes  you  to  be.  With 
all  my  heart  I  will  give  you  whatever  aid  I  can 
bring  to  you.' 

At  once  he  entered  on  the  problem. 

'Along  the  lines  of  least  resistance;  that  is 


193  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

philosophical.'  Unconsciously  he  was  thinking 
aloud. 

'Oh,  bother  your  philosophy  and  least  resist- 
ance.    I  am  a  woman!' 

If  in  her  words  there  was  anything  of  self- 
depreciation,  because  of  her  lack  of  power  to  phi- 
losophize, her  bridling  pride  in  her  womanhood 
quickly  entered  its  graceful  and  commanding  pro- 
test against  anything  that  seemed  like  an  admis- 
sion of  conscious  inferiority — because  she  was  a 
woman. 

"Between  the  lines"  of  her  impatience  his  sym- 
pathetic watchfulness  read  the  noble  eagerness  to 
know — the  almost  fear  that  he  could  not  find — 
the  way  she  penitently  sought  to  walk  in.  Then 
he  said : 

'A  woman's  home  is  her  natural  kingdom. 
There  she  best  can  command  power  if  she  is 
to  effect  an  influence  for  good.  Fortunate  be- 
yond most  women  are  you  in  that  your  siege  can 
be  laid  from  without. 

'All  know  that  your  noble  husband  is  devoted 
to  the  relief  of  suffering  among  the  poor.  Every 
devoted  physician  experiences  keen  sorrow  that 
his  best  efforts  are  often  fruitless,  because  his 
skill  cannot  be  supplemented  by  careful  nursing. 

'I  will  have  some  kiudlv  "m(>ther  in  Israel'' 


NAZARETS   OR   TARSUS f  193 

fiud  from  him  where  he  would  welcome  such  in- 
telligent nursing. 

'Into  such  homes  of  poverty  you  will  go.  You 
will  demand  from  those  whom  you  aid  that  they 
give  him  no  idea  who  is  their  benefactor.  He  will 
soon  recognize  the  benefit  of  your  assistance ;  then 
satisfaction  in  the  better  results  of  his  attend- 
ance may  lead  to  a  sincere  interest  in  the  woman 
who  is  aiding  him. 

'Good  deeds  cannot  long  be  hidden,  and  when 
accident  reveals  them  they  will  be  all  the  more 
effective  through  sincere  unostentation.  When  he 
discovers  that  the  ministering  angel  is  his  wife 
you  will  have  your  opportunity.  But  let  a  calm 
self-respect  wait  on  your  penitence.  For  peni- 
tence is  all  the  more  impressive  if  it  bends  from 
an  elevated  pedestal  of  dignified  self-respect. 
Tears  influence  only  a  weak  man — permanently. 
A  cringing  self-abasement  vv^ould  never  command 
your  husband's  respect.  Sincere  contrition  will 
be  all  the  more  irresistible,  if  channeled  in  a  dig- 
nified sense  of  the  claims  of  your  womanhood ;  if 
its  deep,  pure  current  is  borne  along  the  heights 
of  consciousness  of  lofty  and  ennobled  motive. 

'Assiduously  consider  his  comfort  in  his  home, 
yet  do  not  discover  this  to  him.  But  do  not  relax 
your  efforts — in  either  direction — when  they 
have  accomplished  their  service  to  you.     Let  him, 


194  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS? 

and  the  world,  see  that  not  for  yourself  alone 
did  you  enter  on  this  new  life.' 

AYithout  delay  she  began  her  service  to  those 
who  were  suffering.  Equally  studious  she  be- 
came in  adding  to  her  husband's  comfort.  He  ap- 
preciated the  thoughtfulness  and  thanked  the 
upper  servant;  who  was  too  diplomatic  to  permit 
herself  to  lose,  through  needless  explanations,  the 
material  expression  of  his  appreciation. 

Her  splendid  vitality  was  never  overtaxed. 

A  little  child  of  three  years  of  age  had  won  her 
love.  She  was  never  weary  of  listening  to  its 
struggles  with  elusive  consonants  and  vowels. 
But  the  struggles  grew  weaker  as  the  days  went 
by,  though  its  answering  love  was  just  as  bright 
and  strong. 

At  last  the  new  toys  ceased  to  amuse. 

'I  want  only  you,  auntie  dear.  Hold  me  close, 
and  sing  to  me  soft  and  low.  There,  I'm  so  happy 
now  in  your  strong  arms.' 

But  she  must  hear  from  the  physician's  own 
lips  if  the  case  was  as  hoi)eless  as  it  seemed. 
When  slie  heard  his  footsteps  she  Imd  lydden  her- 
self in  the  closet,  the  door  ajar  so  that  she  could 
hear  his  decision, 

'Dear  heart,  you  are  very  weary,  are  you  not?' 
she  heard  him  say. 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUSf  195 

'Sometimes,  but  not  when  auntie  holds  me 
close  to  her  bosom.' 

'And  would  you  be  very  sorry  if  some  time 
you  were  to  fall  asleep  and  when  you  woke  up 
you  were  well  and  strong  and  with  the  angels?' 

'Not  if  I  can  take  mamma  and  auntie  and  baby 
brother  with  me.' 

'Not  with  you,  dear  child,  but  they  will  come 
to  you  by  and  by;  and  when  they  come  you  will 
be  waiting  for  them  and  have  everything  ready 
for  them.' 

'But  can't  I  come  back  to  comfort  mamma  and" 
auntie  and  baby  brother?' 

'God  grant  that  you  can  return;  and,  if  you 
can,  to  me  too;  for  I  need  such  comfort,  and  I 
would  gladly  lay  my  head  on  your  pillow  and  fall 
asleep  with  you,  and  we  would  take  each  other's 
hands  and  go  through  the  pearly  gates  together.' 

In  an  instant  he  was  on  his  feet  and  looking 
angrily  about  him.  'I  have  told  you  that  there 
must  be  the  utmost  quiet — no  agitation  of  the 
child.'  He  moved  quickly  towards  the  closet 
from  which  the  sharp,  moaning  cry  had  come. 
As  he  threw  the  door  open  he  saw  two  hands 
shielding  a  woman's  face,  and  on  one  of  the 
hands  was  a  ring  of  peculiar  form.     His  eyes 


196  'NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

seemed  to  regard  only  that,  then  he  quietly 
closed  the  door. 

'But  that  is  auntie.  You  mustn't  scold  auntie ; 
I  won't  love  you  if  you  do ;  1  won't  come  back  to 
comfort  you.  I'll  tell  auntie  you  are  sorry  that 
you  scolded  her,  and  then  she  will  come  and 
comfort  you  when  I  am  gone.'  Truer  prophet 
than  you  could  know  yourself  to  be,  dear  heart. 

"And  a  little  child  shall  lead  them." 

That  evening,  as  she  sat  at  the  tea  table,  he 
came  behind  her  and  laid  his  hands  on  her  shoul- 
ders and  said :  'Has  it  been  all  a  dream — only 
an  ugly  dream?' 

'No,  it  has  not  been  a  dream.  It  has  been  a 
hard,  cruel  reality.  But  that  woman  is  dead.  I 
despise  her  memory.  If  years  of  loving  devotion 
can  blot  her  baseness  out  of  your  memory,  I  will 
give  you  that.' 

She  was  tempted  to  cover  her  face  and  go 
down  on  lier  knees  and  ask  his  forgiveness.  But 
she  remembered  the  Man's  advice. 

She  rose  and  turned  statelily  to  him  with 
graceful,  outstretched  arms;  her  white  bosom 
heaving,  her  snowy  shoulders  glistening,  her 
head  thrown  back,  displaying  ivory  throat,  while 
half  closed,  ravishing  eyes,  and  lips  molded  in 
expectancy  of  kisses  completed  the  grace  that 
waited  on  the  penitence  which  she  brought  to 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  197 

him — penitence  none  the  less  sincere  because  she 
made  her  grace  its  ally. 

She  wound  the  shapely  arms  about  him  and 
drew  him  to  her.  'It  shall  always  be  leap  year 
in  my  heart,  and  I  will  woo  you  as  sincerely  as 
you  did  me  in  the  years  ago.  Then  a  heartless 
Avoman  took  your  heart  and  did  not  give  you 
hers  in  return ;  yet  she  had  none  then  to  give.  Oh, 
my  darling,  that  woman  wasn't  I.  Think  of  her 
as  dead ;  as  some  one  I  never  even  knew.  She  is 
not  worthy  of  thought,  of  even  contempt  from 
you.  But  I  come  to  you  unsullied.  In  all  these 
years  I  have  not  had  one  sentiment  of  friendship 
for  any  other  man.  I  admired  you,  and  you 
alone;  and  yet  it  was  a  man  who  revealed  to  me 
my  better  self.  I  will  tell  it  all  to  you ;  some  time 
when  you  hold  me  in  your  arms.' 

He  looked  down  at  her,  smilingly.  'How  easy 
it  is  to  forgive  a  handsome  woman.  But  if  that 
awful  woman  is  dead,  and  this  beautiful  crea- 
ture that  I  am  entrapped  by  is  to  be  my  wife, 
then  we  must  be  publicly  joined.  So,  as  it  is 
Sunday  to-morrow,  we  will  go  to  church  together, 
and  thus,  before  all  the  world,  I  will  take  you  as 
my  wife.' 

She  kissed  him  her  thanks  for  the  delicate  con- 
sideration that  prompted  him  to  thus  demand 


198  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS? 

from  all  of  his  friends  their  recognition  of  her  as 
once  more  his  wife. 

'You  are  a  charming  bride  this  morning.'  A 
deeper  color  came  in  acknowledgement  of  his  ad- 
miration. As  they  walked  along  she  wanted  to 
see  that  every  one  observed  that  she  was  again 
his  wife.  Yet  she  wanted  to  be  constantly  look- 
ing into  his  face. 

You  have  seen  the  same  delightful  failure  to 
do  both  successfully  when  the  mother  of  a  young 
hero  takes  him  out  to  show  the  world  that  it  was 
she  who  bore  him  and  tended  him  and  taught 
him  to  be  noble. 

At  the  church  door  he  left  her,  promising  to 
join  her  as  soon  as  a  pressing  call  was  answered. 
He  thought  it  wisest  that  she  should  not  see 
again  that  dear  child  whose  now  glazing  eyes  and 
pains  of  dissolution  would  displace  the  memory 
of  the  sweet  face  that  smiled  so  tenderly  as  the 
thin  lips  told  her:  'He  is  sorry  that  he  was 
cross  to  you,  auntie,  and  he  is  so  lonely ;  he  has 
no  one  to  love  him,  and  you  must  go  and  comfort 
him  after  I  am  gone.     Oh,  he  is  so  kind.' 

Later,  when  the  child  rested  as  if  in  sleep 
among  flowers  that  lay  on  soft  clouds  of  mist- 
like mull,  he  brought  her  to  see  its  sweet  repose. 
Then  she  took  her  husband's  hand,  and  in  her 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS?  199 

heart  she  said  again — and  this  time  so  sincerely 
• — the  obligations  of  the  marriage  service. 

For  once  the  Man  was  wrong.  She  had  fallen 
in  love  with  her  husband;  and  himself  had 
wrought  the  undoing  of  his  prophecy. 


200  NAZARETH    OR   TARSUSf 


Let  us  now  regard  the  evidences  of  Paul's  in- 
sanity; the  evidences  contained  in  the  manu- 
script which  the  clergyman  declined  to  consider. 

In  a  spirit  of  candid  inquiry — by  no  means 
comprehensively,  but  in  the  hope  of  suggesting 
scientific  examination — the  author  presents  these 
views  to  skilled  alienists,  hoping  that  they  can 
differentiate  the  indications  of  insanity  and  state 
whether  the  morbid  condition  of  Paul's  mind, 
when  he  approaches  the  subject  of  sex,  was  a 
primary  condition  of  his  insanity,  or  was  the  re- 
sult of  insanitv  otherwise  established. 


NAZARETH    OR   TlRSUSf  201 

XVIII. 

"The  woman    .    .    .    tempted  me." 

"And  Adam  was  not  deceived ;  but  the  woman 
being  deceived  was  in  tlie  transgression.  Not- 
withstanding, she  shall  be  saved  in  child  bear- 
ing, if  they  continue  in  faith  and  charity  and 
holiness,  Avith  sobriety"  (I.  Tim.  ii.  14,  15). 

Would  that  Saul  of  Tarsus  had  shown  no 
graver  evidence  of  a  disordered  mind  than  is 
indicated  by  this  confusing  change  from  the  sin- 
gular to  the  plural — a  plural  which  cannot  in- 
clude the  husband,  since  her  being  "saved"  can- 
not be  contingent  on  his  joining  her  in  practis- 
ing the  virtues  named. 

But  let  us  consider  the  import  of  these  sen- 
tences. 

The  inference  naturally  drawn  from  the  first 
proposition  is :  Adam  was  not  in  the  transgres- 
sion; and  the  consequent  conclusion  is,  that 
Adam  was  unjustly  driven  from  the  Garden. 

But  how  preposterous  is  the  second  statement ! 
Surely  no  sane  mind  would  thus  imply  the  ex- 
clusion of  childless  wives  and  unmarried  women 
from  the  saving  power  of  the  Christ. 

But  if  we  insist  that  Paul  was  inspired,  "what 


203  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

further  need  have  Ave  of  witnesses"  to  the  benefi- 
cence of  Mormonism  efforts  for  the  salvation  of 
women?  How  heroic,  truly  so,  become  the  sac- 
rifices of  the  fading  wives,  who  are  supplanted; 
since  the  souls  of  those  who  supplant  "shall  be 
saved  in  child  bearing,"  while  the  men  who  thus 
assume  the  added  responsibilities  must  no  longer 
be  regarded  as  selfishly  seeking  their  own  pleas- 
ure, but  are  ministers  of  grace  to  women,  who 
would  remain  in  the  transgression  of  Eve  if  these 
noble,  self-denying  men  did  not  open  to  them  the 
gates  of  heaven  through  conferred  maternity. 

If  a  wholly  artificial  yet  conveniently  arbi- 
trary meaning  is  given  to  these  words,  and  it  is 
assumed  that  ''child  bearing"  refers  to  the  in- 
carnation of  the  Christ,  there  can  be  shown  no 
appositeness  in  their  application  to  women 
only:  while  the  discrimination  against  Avoman, 
as  shown  in  the  first  sentence,  makes  it  improb- 
able that  the  leading  thought  in  Paul's  mind  was 
of  the  incarnation. 

But  further  on  we  find  the  impelling  sentiment 
of  this  denunciation  of  woman.  For  the  pruri- 
ent imagination  which  St.  Paul  shows  in  his  com- 
mands in  regard  to  the  care  of  widows  (I.  Tim.  v. 
8-10)  is  accompanied  by  the  further  evidence^  of 
that  cultivated  contempt  for  women  which  mani- 
fests itself  so  often  in  his  writings. 

No  sane  or  pure  mind  could  have  written  :  "But 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  203 

the  younger  widows  refuse  (to  relieve?) ;  for 
when  they  begin  to  wax  wanton  against  Christ, 
they  will  marry ;  having  damnation,  because  they 
have  cast  oiS  their  first  faith."  Surely  such 
neglect  and  sweeping  denunciation  would  be  an 
incentive  to  wantonness. 

So,  too,  is  his  bitter  denunciation  of  widows  of 
any  age  under  sixty  years. 

However,  when  another  mood  possesses  him,  he 
says:  "But  if  (I.  Cor.  vii.  39)  her  husband  be 
dead,  she  is  at  liberty  to  be  married  to  whom  she 
will,  only  in  the  Lord." 

Again:  his  morbid  imagination  is  shown  in 
I.  Cor.  xi.  2-16 :  "But  every  woman  praying  or 
prophesying  with  her  head  uncovered,  dishon- 
oreth  her  head.  For  this  cause  ought  a  woman  to 
have  a  sign  of  authority  on  her  head,  because  of 
the  angels."  It  is  hard  for  a  sane  mind  to  dis- 
cover a  reason  why  the  angels  should  be  dis- 
turbed if  a  woman  was  not  veiled,  though  it  is 
easy  enough  to  fabricate  fanciful  explanations. 

He  adds :  "For  the  man  is  not  of  the  woman 
but  the  woman  of  the  man,"  and  a  few  verses 
later  he  says:  "For  as  the  woman  is  of  the 
man,  so  is  also  the  man  by  the  woman."  A  sense- 
less attempt  to  depreciate  womanhood. 
'  I.  Cor.  xiv.  34-36 :  Supercilious  as  he  was 
towards  the  law,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  quote  the 
law  when  he  desires  to  express  his  contempt  for 


204  NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS? 

women;  a  contempt  that  is  expressed  in  scorn 
and  sarcasm  at  the  close  of  this  quotation. 

In  these  disdainful  expressions  he  shows  an 
estimate  of  womanhood  that  is  so  thoroughly  at 
variance  with  the  language  and  actions  of  our 
Lord  that — if  we  accept  Paul's  language  as  au- 
thoritative, his  sentiments  as  just — we  must  rec- 
ognize that  our  Lord  was  strangely  ignorant  of 
the  true  character  of  the  sex. 

In  striking  contrast  is  St.  Peter's  delicacy  and 
his  respect  for  women  when  he  refers  to  marital 
obligations,  and  to  the  proper  conduct  of  mar- 
ried women;  thus  showin*];  that  Paul's  coarse- 
ness was  inherent  with  himself — not  demanded 
in  rebuke — and  St.  Peter's  intercourse  with  the 
Gentiles  seems  to  have  been  nearl}^  as  great  as 
was  Paul's. 

Rather  let  us  regard  Paul's  utterances  as  indi- 
cating a  soul  that  had  vainly  attempted  to  disci- 
pline itself  out  of  the  realm  of  natural  affection, 
but  had  produced  only  a  diseased  intellect — that 
saddest  form  of  mental  obliquity  which  refracts 
any  impulse  into  the  plane  of  demonstrated 
truth;  and  permits  the  end  to  justify  the  means 
in  producing  a  desired  conviction. 

Rom.  i.  24:  Even  more  convincing  is  the  re- 
volting account  that  Paul  gives  of  the  sensuality 
of  unbelievers. 

While  it  may  be  a  truthful  picture  of  their 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  205 

degradation,  it  has  no  appositeness  here.  He 
opens  the  chapter  by  praising  the  faith  of  the 
church  at  Rome;  he  acknowledges  the  purity  of 
the  lives  of  those  whom  he  addresses,  with  whom 
he  hopes  to  "be  comforted  by  the  mutual  faith, 
both  of  you  and  me."  Only  a  morbid  imagina- 
tion, directing  a  mind  which  had  become  un- 
sound, could  have  introduced  this  repugnant  de- 
scription— a  description  wholly  foreign  to  the 
conditions  which  he  was  regarding — and  there  is 
nothing  to  indicate  that  he  intended  it  as  a  warn- 
ing. 

Rom.  ii.  1 :  And  although  he  says  "Thou  doest 
the  same  things,"  he  has  clearly  indicated  that  in 
this  he  was  denouncing  idolaters ;  for  there  is  no 
evidence  that  the  revolting  picture  which  he  drew 
(Rom.  i.  23)  was  in  any  way  applicable  to  par- 
ticular members  of  the  church  at  Rome;  w^hich, 
in  its  entiretj^,  he  had  commended  so  warmly. 

None  of  the  other  New  Testament  writers — 
nor  all — found  it  necessary  to  consider  condi- 
tions incident  to  sex  to  the  extent  that  Paul  has 
done  in  a  single  chapter  ( I.  Cor.  vii. ) .  This  chap- 
ter is  clearly  the  product  of  a  mind  which  has 
given  undue  thought  to  sexual  relations ;  that  is, 
fascinated  by  the  contemplation  of  tendencies 
which  he  counsels  superiority  to.  Yet  even  this 
fascination  cannot  long  restrain  that  erratic 
thought  which  is  <^  coiisequent  of  insanity.     For 


206  NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS f 

he  here  (18-24)  digresses;  only  to  be  dominated 
towards  the  end  of  the  chapter,  by  the  same  mor- 
bid impulses  that  directed  its  first  half. 

The  contradictions  of  an  unbalanced  mind  are 
shown  by  (I.  Cor.  xi.  5)  his  giving  permission  to 
women  to  pray  or  prophesy — evidently  in  public 
gatherings;  but  soon  (xiv.  34)  he  says:  ''Let 
3'our  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches,"  and 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  lapse  of  time  to  per- 
mit his  opinion  to  be  changed  by  further  experi- 
ence. 

I.  Cor.  vi.  12-15 :  Most  difficult  of  all  of  Paul's 
writings  I  conceive  these  verses  to  be.  First  he 
states  that  "all  things  are  lawful  for  me."  But 
there  closely  follows  it  such  reference  to  sexual 
impurity,  and  there  precedes  it  a  recounting  of 
grosser  forms  of  impurity,  so  tliat  one  is  per- 
plexed in  trying  to  fathom  his  intent  in  associat- 
ing the  comprehensive  "all,"  in  stating  what  is 
allowable  for  him  to  do,  when  his  mind  is  dwell- 
ing emphatically  on  sexual  relations. 

But  what  apology,  other  than  insanity,  can  be 
offered  for  the  next  verse?  That  would  seem  to 
be  thv'^  only  excuse  for  the  strange  perversion  of 
the  words  of  our  Lord.  He  says  (Matt.  xix.  5)  : 
"For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
mother  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife;  and  they 
twain  shall  become  one  flesh."  But  Paul  says: 
"Know  ye  not  that  he  that  is  joined  to  a  harlot 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUSf  207 

is  one  body?  for  the  twcain,  saith  He,  shall  be  one 
flesh."  Had  any  one  but  Paul  thus  misquoted 
the  words  of  our  Lord  we  would  have  called  it 
blasphemy.  Paul's  clouded,  yet  arrogant,  intel- 
lect made  him  indifferent  to  the  perverting  of  our 
Lord's  language.  But  this  degrading  of  His  ut- 
terances turned  a  phrase  in  a  way  that  satisfied 
the  moment,  and  Paul  was  indifferent  to  the  sac- 
rilege. 

Hence  naturally  we  find  that  twice  he  gives 
himself  precedence  of  our  Lord  in  "My  gospel 
and  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,"  yet  the  prece- 
dence might  not  be  so  clear  in  its  intent  but  for 
the  third  instance  (I.  Cor.  v.  5)  :  "Ye  being  gath- 
ered together  and  my  spirit,  with  the  power  of 
our  Lord  Jesus,  to  deliver  such  a  one  unto  Satan 
for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh."  Although  this 
may  be  softened  in  translation,  it  does  not  qual- 
ify Paul's  arrogance,  in  his  claiming  a  power  to 
command  the  aid  of  our  Lord  to  deliver  the  of- 
fender to  Satan. 

The  easy  and  confidential  relations  which  he 
seems  to  have  established  with  Satan  are  further 
shown  in  (I.  Tim.  L  20)  :  "Of  whom  is  Hyme- 
nreus  and  Alexander,  whom  I  delivered  unto 
Satan  that  they  might  be  taught  not  to  blas- 
pheme." His  ability  to  command  the  exercise  of 
divine  wrath  is  asserted  equally  with  his  claim  to 


208 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUSf 


possess  the  power  to  employ  Satan  as  an  admin- 
istrator of  discipline. 

(Gal.  i.  8)  :  ''But  though  we,  or  an  angel  from 
heaven,  should  preach  unto  you  any  gospel  other 
than  that  which  we  preached  unto  you,  let  him  be 
anathema." 

Evidently  Paul  had  learned  to  "sow  beside  all 
waters." 

And  again  he  says : 

II.  Tim.  xi.  8 :  "IJemember  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  raised  from  the  dead  according  to  my  gos- 
pel." 

Kom.  ii.  1.6 :  "In  the  day  when  God  shall  judge 
the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ,  according  to 
my  gospel." 

I.  Cor.  vi.  2,  3:  "Or  know  ye  not  that  the 
saints  shall  judge  the  world?  Know  ye  not  that 
ye  shall  judge  angels?" 

Could  insane  egotism  lead  to  a  greater  pre- 
sumption in  assuming  a  knowledge  of  God's 
plans? 

What  was  Paul's  authority  that  God's  scrip- 
tural plan  of  governing  man — a  plan  so  carefully 
elaborated — was  not  only  an  utter  failure  but  in- 
herently so?  In  II.  Cor.  iii.  7,  he  calls  its  com- 
mandments "the  ministration  of  death."  Only 
the  reckless  temerity  of  a  disordered  mind  im- 
bued with  arrogance  wouhl  have  impelled  to 
such  characterizing  of  the  law — that  its  failure 


NAZARETH   OR    TARSUS f  209 

was  inevitable  and  predestined.  This  theory,  so 
boldly  assumed,  he  attempts  to  vindicate  by :  "It 
was  added  because  of  transgression"  (Gal.  iii. 
9),  a  statement  which  admits  of  such  varied  in- 
terpretations that  it  does  not  explain. 

Boastfully  he  says  (I.  Cor.  xv.  10)  :  "But  I 
labored  more  abundantly  than  they  all"  (the 
twelve  apostles)  ;  and  later  implies  that  this 
"more  abundantly"  was  because  God's  grace  was 
bestowed  on  him  with  a  fullness  which  exceeded 
that  which  was  bestowed  on  all  of  the  twelve. 

II.  Cor.  xi.  15 ;  xii.  11  :*  Here,  as  elsewhere,  he 
parades  his  sense  of  equality  with  the  other  apos- 
tles; and  in  this  epistle  there  are  frequently  re- 
curring "vain  repetitions"  of  his  obtrusive  self- 
exaltation,  which  he  develops  rather  than  con- 
ceals by  his  attempt  to  veneer  it  with  assumed 
humility. 

Paul  made  a  statement  directly  opposed  to  the 
account  given  in  Acts,  of  his  conference  with  the 
apostles,  and  of  that  which  led  up  to  it. 

Practically,  too,  he  denies  St.  Peter's  call  to 
apostleship  to  the  Gentiles :  the  call  that  was  so 
clearly  made  through  the  vision  of  the  great  sheet 
let  down  by  the  four  corners.    We  must  reject 

*  Fruitful  as  were  the  so-called  Pauline  churches — "the 
garden  of  Christianity  " — we  must  not  forget  the  devoted  ser- 
vices of  others,  who  are  significantly  suggested  in  his  "all  that 
are  in  Asia  are  turned  against  me." 


2]0  NAZARETn   OR    TARSUS? 

one  side  of  this  evidence.  We  cannot  accept  both 
as  true. 

His  writings  bristle  with  the  capital  I,  and  he 
describes  general  tendencies  of  the  race  as  if  they 
were  peculiarly  personal  to  himself;  so  strongly 
does  self-consciousness  overpower  him. 

I.  Cor.  ix. :  This  is  a  marked  illustration  of 
the  egotism  that  often  accompanies  insanity. 

"The  complex  relations  of  faith,  works,  im- 
puted righteousness,  and  the  law  as  the  revealer 
of  sin,  gave  to  St.  Paul  that  opportunity  for  the 
display  of  scholastic  reasoning  in  which  he  so 
thoroughly  delighted,  for  the  sake  of  its  intel- 
lectual exercise,  and  which  has  a  glittering  sem- 
blance of  truth  in  monologue,  though  in  pure 
polemics  its  lapse  from  accurate  reasoning,  its 
false  deductions,  its  assumed  premises,  would 
be  exposed  before  his  ingenious  conclusions  had 
carried  conviction." 

"One  phase  of  his  intense  self-absorption  is 
shown  in  the  inappositeness  of  his  quotations 
from  the  Scriptures.  It  could  not  be  from  ig- 
norance that  he  failed  to  quote  them  pertinently. 
That  he  had  them  in  mind  is  evident,  for  he  was 
constantly  denouncing  the  law,  and  the  denun- 
ciatory passages  would  have  eminently  attracted 
him."  But  his  thoughts  were  so  self-centered 
that  he  must  hnve  been  as  averse  to  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Scriptures  as  he  was  eag'er  to  boast 


NAZARETH    OR    TARSUS f  £11 

that  he  was  in  no  way  indebted  to  the  chosen  of 
our  Lord. 

Only  a  mind  that  was  so  unbalanced  that  it  de- 
lighted to  reason  from  distorted  truths  or  from 
false  premises  could  have  presented  the  proposi- 
tion (Eom.  yi.  1-15)  :  "Shall  we  continue  in  sin 
that  grace  may  abound?"  "Shall  we  sin  because 
we  are  not  under  law,  but  under  grace?''  And 
even  these  propositions  are  illogical  deductions 
from  (verse  20)  the  evidently  false  premises  that 
the  law  was  promulgated,  not  to  be  the  "school- 
master to  lead  us  to  Christ,"  but  to  intensify  the 
sinfulness  of  sin — or  whatever  Paul  may  have 
meant  by  "that  the  offense  may  abound."  Here, 
for  the  sake  of  creating  an  illustration,  he  does 
not  hesitate  to  attribute  an  arbitrary  and  un- 
natural motive,  when  he  refers  to  God's  inscruta- 
ble plan  of  revealing  His  will  in  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation. 

Eambling,  discursive,  disjointed,  his  thoughts 
run. 

He  abruptly  drops  the  subject  under  considera- 
tion and  takes  up  a  new  and  totally  unconnected 
thought;  but  presently — and  as  abruptly  as  he 
changed — he  returns  to  the  previous  thought.  He 
lays  down  certain  propositions  and  elaborates 
them.  Then  he  propounds  an  etirely  new  thesis 
and  goes  on  to  argue  from  it;  as  if  it  had  been 


212  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f 

demonstrated  by  the  previous  reasoning — tliougli 
in  no  way  deducible  from  that  which  precedes. 

One  of  the  most  serious  of  these  hipses  is 
shown  in  Gal.  v.  14  :  ''For  all  the  law  is  fulfilled 
in  this.  Thou  shalt  lore  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
The  loA'e  to  God  omitted ;  as  only  an  unbalanced 
mind  could  forget  to  add.  And  it  was  Christian 
duty  he  was  exemplifying — not  contrasting  it 
with  the  Mosaic  law. 

All  these  instances  are  proofs  of  a  disordered 
mind ;  as  is  also  Paul's  nmnifestations  of  that  in- 
tense egotism  which  always  attends  certain  forms 
of  mental  aberration.  It  is  this  which  leads  him 
to  employ  so  largely  the  first  person  singular, 
— even  where  a  general  or  impersonal  proposition 
makes  it  inappropriate. 

And  this  egotism  takes  a  form  more  repug- 
nant— though  none  the  less  instructive — in  his 
expressions  of  contempt  for  the  twelve  apostles, 
and  in  his  claim  of  a  direct  "revelation  by  Jesus 
Christ." 

Gal.  ii.  2-14:  Here  his  sense  of  superiority  to 
and  his  contempt  for  the  twelve  is  clearly  shown, 
and  he  boasts  that  he  publicly  denounced  Peter 
(verses  20-21)  ;  then  extols  his  own  righteous- 
ness. 

In  marked  contrast  was  St.  Peter's  charitable 
construction  of  Paul's  language;  and  also  the 


NAZARETH   OR   TABSUSt  213 

care  that  the  apostles  iook  to  save  Paul  from  the 
violence  of  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem. 

His  intense  intellectual  pride  impels  him  to 
attempt  scholastic  argument.  But  the  results  are 
illogical  and  involved  (Rom.  v.  12-21  and  vii. 
7-25),  the  thought  becomes  confused,  the  argu- 
ment ceases  to  be  sustained  and  coherent,  conclu- 
sive evidences  of  a  distraught  mind.  Only  such  a 
mind  could  have  conceived:  "For  the  creation 
was  subject  to  vanity  (Rom.  viii.  20-21)  ;  not  of 
its  own  will,  but  by  reason  of  him  who  subjected 
it,  in  hope  that  the  creation  itself  also  shall  be 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  into 
the  liberty,"  etc.,  etc.  Now  the  consequent  "in 
hope,"  etc.,  is  utterly  senseless.  To  say  that  "the 
creation  was  subject  to  vanity"  "in  the  hope  that 
it  shall  be  delivered"  is  thoroughly  unmeaning. 
In  Paul's  distraught  mind  there  was  an  interme- 
diate idea.  But  the  flaccid  will — which  is  a 
marked  feature  of  insanity — failing  to  control 
the  vagaries  of  his  thought,  allowed  the  conjunc- 
tive phrase  to  be  expelled  from  its  place  and  to  be 
forgotten.  This  lapse  may  have  been;  neverthe- 
less it  continued  "in  hope  that  the  creation  itself 
also  shall  be  delivered."  The  observant  reader 
will  find  repeated  instances  of  such  lapses. 

Later  on,  in  Romans,  his  erratic  attempts  at 
reasoning  are  exhibited  in  his  stating  that  the  law 


214  NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS f 

cannot  give  to  man  power  to  lead  a  new  life.  It 
commands,  yet  it  does  not  give  power  to  obey; 
implying  that  man  had  not  been  divinely  en- 
dued with  i)Ower  to  obey  the  commands  laid 
upon  him ;  and  he  teaches  that,  although  good  in 
itself,  it  has  for  men  only  a  pernicious  effect, 
since  it  incites  to  sinful  desires.  The  conclusion 
is  directly  opposed  to  the  premises. 

Kom.  ix.-xi. :  It  is  Israel's  own  fault  to  have 
rejected  salvation;  on  the  other  hand  it  was 
God's  will  that  it  do  so.  No  sane  mind  would  in- 
troduce such  contradictions. 

Israel  is  at  present  rejected  in  order  that  place 
might  be  made  for  the  heathen.  But  by  this  ad- 
mission of  the  heathen,  Israel  is  to  be  stirred  to 
jealousy.  But  he  gives  no  reason  why  the  sav- 
ing grace  is  not  so  vast  that  Jews  and  Gentiles 
could  not  have  received  it  simultaneously. 

"God  gave  them  (the  Jews)  a  spirit  of  stupor; 
eyes  that  they  should  not  see;  ears  that  they 
should  not  hear;"  and  elsewhere  he  attributes  a 
harsh  arbitrariness  to  God. 

From  a  sane  mind  these  statements  would  be 
blasphemous  claims  of  familiarity  with  God's 
purposes.  Doublj^  sacrilegious  are  these  claims 
because  contrary  to  his  asserted  "revelation  in 
Jesus  Christ" ;  yet  of  value  as  showing  that  Paul 
was  always  at  heart  a  Pliarisee,  unable  to  free 
himself  from  the  rabbinical  conception  of  God's 


NAZARETH   OR   TARSUS?  215 

arbitrariness;  and,  as  a  consequence,  clearly 
proving  that  he  had  neither  the  intellectual  per- 
ception, nor  the  spiritual  insight  to  recognize 
the  true  mission  of  the  Christ. 

Observe  his  long  sentences ;  with  attempts  at  il- 
lustration and  explanation  by  interjected  matter ; 
but  which  new  matter  is  often  discovered  to  be  a 
new  proposition ;  and  not  till  we  have  traversed 
laboriously  these  intermediate  ideas  do  we  find 
the  conclusions  of  his  original  propositions. 

Such  lapses  and  irrelevant  additions  plainly 
indicate  a  disordered  mind,  unable  to  maintain 
continuous  and  logically  developed  reasoning. 

He  gives  us  another  instance  of  this  in  "But 
before  faith  came  (Gal.  iii.  23)  we  were  kept  in 
ward  under  the  law ;  shut  up  unto  the  faith  which 
should  be  afterwards  revealed.  So  that  the  law 
hath  been  our  tutor  to  bring  us  to  Christ;"  not 
regarding  that — in  Romans — he  has  taught  that 
the  law  has  a  pernicious  effect,  and  incites  to  evil 
desires.  A  few  verses  later  he  changes  the  figure, 
and  makes  the  world — not  the  law — the  power 
which  restrains  us.  "So  we  also,  when  we  were 
children,  were  held  in  bondage  under  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  world,"  till  the  coming  of  Christ. 
But  he  has  previously  said:  "For  as  many  as 
are  of  the  works  of  the  law  are  under  a  curse" 
(Gal.  iii.  10). 

While  many  a  school  boy  thinks  that  his  "tu- 


216  NAZARETH   OR   TARHUS? 

tor"  is  a  "curse,"  it  is  preposterous  to  assume 
that  any  sane  reasoner  could  argue  that  a 
"curse"  could  be  "our  tutor  to  bring  us  to  Christ." 
No  stretch  of  poetic  license,  nor  fine  distinctions 
between  the  "law"  and  "the  works  of  the  law," 
can  excuse  these  extravagances ;  nor  permit  these 
impulsive  utterances  to  be  dignified  witli  the  au- 
thority of  inspired  truth.  Xo  well  balanced  mind 
could  fail  to  recognize  the  incongruitj^  of  naming 
"the  rudiments  of  the  world"  and  the  "curse  of 
the  works  of  law"  as  Avholesome  and  discipli- 
nary influences  to  prepare  the  "children"  to  at- 
tain the  freedom  of  majority  in  Christ. 

Most  noticeable  is  his  very  frequent  repetition 
of  the  word  'for,'  as  if  desiring  to  establish  the 
conclusions  of  previous  propositions;  yet  those 
previous  propositions  having  no  connection  with 
assumed  deductions. 

Instances  illustrating  every  phase  of  Paul's 
morbid  and  distraught  mind  are  so  numerous 
that  it  is  needless  to  quote  them.  But  the  reader 
who  encounters  them  in  a  spirit  of  candid  in- 
quiry cannot  but  recognize  that  Paul's  unbal- 
anced mind  led  him  to  believe  that  there  were 
natural  sequence  of  ideas,  when  in  reality  his 
assumed  conclusions  had  no  relation  to  his  pre- 
mises. There  is  a  marked  illustration  of  these 
vagaries — and  showing,  too,  tliat  oven  Paul 
recognized,  how  little  reliance  could  be  placed  on 


'NAZARETH   OR   TARSVSf  217 

claims  of  special  revelation,  as  evidence  of  in- 
spiration— in  (Col.  ii.  18,  19)  :  "Let  n.o  man  rob 
you  of  your  prize,  by  a  voluntary  humility,  wor- 
shipping of  angels,  dwelling  in  the  things  which 
he  hath  seen,  vainly  puffed  up  in  his  fleshly 
mind." 

Now  this  is  senseless;  compelling  the  reader 
to  indulge  in  arbitrary  inferences  as  to  the  mean- 
ing of  "prize"  and  "voluntary"  and  "worship- 
ping of  angels" ;  and  by  filling  any  hiatus  from 
his  own  fancy. 


THE  END. 


